


The Beat to my Stolen Heart

by taffysamg



Category: EXO, Kpop - Fandom, NCT, SHINee, SuperM, X reader - Fandom
Genre: EXO - Freeform, F/M, Other, SHINee - Freeform, SuperM - Freeform, kpop, kpop x reader, nct - Freeform, x Reader
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-13
Updated: 2020-10-25
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:55:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 23
Words: 25,850
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26995519
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/taffysamg/pseuds/taffysamg
Summary: As an up and coming music producer, Y/N has actually done fairly well for herself in the industry. All though left without credit most of the time, she's happy to make her money and do what she loves. However, when she catches wind of an idol blatantly claiming her songs to be his own, she can't sit by and do nothing. SuperM picked the wrong girl to mess with when it came to her talent.
Relationships: Byun Baekhyun/Reader, Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul | Ten/Reader, Kim Jongin | Kai/Reader, Lee Taemin/Reader, Lee Taeyong/Reader, Mark Lee (NCT)/Reader, Wong Yuk Hei | Lucas/Reader
Comments: 20
Kudos: 77
Collections: R's EXO





	1. Theft

Y/N updated her monthly calendar as she looked over the new assignments that had been given to her via email. She had been checking her inbox over ten times a day for the past week, waiting for an update on her latest piece. She had been working for SM Entertainment for nearly a year now. For the most part, her job consisted of organizing and cleaning up tracks- mundane and boring, but it was work. She occasionally got to do some preliminary mixing or editing to created tracks. Once every blue moon, though, she'd be given the opportunity to write her own song. 

Of course, she was writing plenty of music on her free time. She sent them into the company for review all the time. The one she was currently waiting on, though, was different. Normally when she created tracks, she had specific aesthetics in mind, but no group. The company had been known to take little pieces of her work that they liked and mash it into other songs. Although it wasn't ideal, it was part of her contract, and honestly it was to be expected. This particular track she had created specifically for the group SuperM. While she hadn't pushed that fact too hard, she made sure to mention it several times. She was convinced that it would be the biggest hit he group had ever created if she could just get it through. 

Unfortunately, the company was shit at keeping her updated. In many cases, they wouldn't even give her an answer at all. She'd be mixing a new release and then, suddenly, her track would pop up in the middle of another. Things like that became grating at times, but she was still happy to have a job. Plus, it was nice to hear her music on the air, even if it wasn't quite as impressive as having a whole song produced. 

Her dream was to become a real, credited producer- a 'name-on-the-back-of-the-album" kind of producer. She had considered trying to join a group and produce from within, as it wasn't uncommon, but decided that it just wasn't realistic. She would have to settle for slowly crawling her way to the top through continued demonstration of her abilities. When her friends had realized that she had picked up a job at SM, they were more excited than she had been. They wanted to meet idols, get signatures, free merchandise and tickets- the works. Much to their dismay, she simply worked in an office, just like any other aside from the second-rate production equipment.

Leaning back in her squeaky, wheeled chair, she cracked her back, eyes still situated on her inbox. Finally, she sighed, realizing that if the email was coming, it wouldn't be in this instant. Whether there was some cruel god, or CEO, working against her, she didn't know, but it wasn't worth the trouble right now. Not only that, but her hours would end soon. Standing, she gathered her things, shut off her console, and began walking towards the front entrance of the building. 

Although there was a quick way to the exit down a side staircase, she liked to walk through the practice area. Although not all the trainees were always good, she could generally pick up some nice little snips of dance practices or new songs that were soon to come out. She rarely stayed to watch, as it was fairly strange for an employee to do so, but if it was something she'd worked on, she'd consider it. 

Striding down through the countless doors, she heard the beautiful chaos of music being created. Some rooms were recording vocal tracks, a few had instrumentation for the more classic groups, the stomping and jumping from the dance rooms rang in the distance- it was definitely a noisy machine to behold. Holding her bag to her side, she smiled lightly as she recognized an album that had been dropped by a different group last month. Perhaps they were practicing for a concert, or a music video. 

Out of nowhere, something caught her ear. She wasn't quite sure how she had even picked up on it through the pandemonium, but it rang out clear, like a bell. It was a mid-range male voice, dipping into the lower range of the scale in a dancing melody. Although it was muffled by the foam that was covering all the walls, as well as obscured by the hundreds of decibels littering the air around her, it managed to pierce its way directly to her ears. 

Eyes widening, she followed it to a window just a few rooms down. Looking through, she noted that it was the door to a recording booth, and through the second pane of glass, she saw a very familiar face. Of course, she was aware of all of the SM idols, as well as a good few of the trainees. While she interacted with very few of them, it was customary to be aware of who they were. In this case, though, a more than well-known man sat on the stool with the headset. 

Tall and slightly leaned over, his eyes were closed as he contentedly recorded a vocal track for what she had to guess was the tenth time that day. (The idols were often forced to repeat sections tens, if not hundreds of times). Even in regular clothing, the shape of his face, and more importantly to her- the quality of his voice, were unmistakable. It was Lucas, from WayV. Relevant in this case, though, it was also Lucas from SuperM. And he was singing her song. 

Her. Song. Without thinking about it, she grabbed the handle, which was thankfully unlocked, flinging the door open and surprising the two producers sitting in the booth. Both looking over, one man stood, brows furrowing. 

"What are you doin' in here, kid? We're trying to record something, get out!" Lucas quickly noted the movement of his recording team, although unable to hear what was happening from inside the booth. The other man held up a hand as if to tell him they needed to take a pause. 

"You're recording my song. I wasn't even notified of this! The company-" 

"We have nothing to do with what songs get picked, woman." The first man yelled in return. "Don't get yourself all worked up just because they're using your stuff! You should be happy!" 

"Happy?" She argued. "They didn't even tell me! What kind of-" As she was about to blow up even further on the man in front of her, the door between the two areas opened. Lucas stepped through, one leg transcending the frame along with the left side of his body. Glancing between Y/N and the producers, he asked, 

"Is there a problem here?"


	2. Roll Credits

"Is there a problem here?" Lucas's presence wasn't all that threatening, but it made the atmosphere awkward to say the least. Obviously, the two studio men didn't know exactly how they wanted to handle it, but the more brazen of the two jumped in before Y/N had the chance. 

"No, no problem. She was just leaving, so we can get back to recording the-" 

"No!" She argued, glaring at the man, the anger twitching in his eyes doing nothing to deter her. "There is a problem." If these idiots wouldn't listen to her, maybe the singer himself would. She wasn't nearly as starstruck as someone might have expected in meeting their idol. This was just her job, and she was going to defend her work, even if it cost her some face.

"Uh... okay?" Lucas asked, laughing with a short-lived smile. "What's the issue?" 

"I wrote that song." She said bluntly. She had been expected a look of guilt or apology to cross his face, but instead it flooded with confusion. Even in seeing him on promotional material and videos, she was unfamiliar with the sheer lack of knowledge that was boasted in his gaze. His eyebrows tightened slightly as the corners of his mouth widened, as if he were racking his brain for an answer to her proclamation 

"You... you did?" 

"Yes. I wrote it for SuperM, but I was completely uninformed that it would be put in use. Not only that, but I didn't sign the release, or speak to the company about having different producers handle it." 

"You know that's not how this works-" One of the other producers started. "You don't get to throw a hissy fit just because-" 

"How long have you had it?" Y/N asked Lucas, completely ignoring the men to her side. 

"Huh?" 

"The song. When did they first send it to you?" 

"Uh..." He looked up innocently, clearly trying to recall. "I think... maybe a week ago?" A week ago. So they listened to her song, probably once, and just decided to pass it on to SuperM, no questions asked? She didn't know whether to be proud or furious, but she was leaning towards the latter. 

"Are you sure it's your song?" Lucas asked curiously, unwittingly fueling her annoyance. 

"What do you mean? I think I'd know my own writing." 

"It's just that, I'm pretty sure Taeyong mentioned that he was working on it. He's the one that gave it to us, after all. We were all super hyped, but-" 

"Excuse me?!" Now she was completely and utterly irate. Not only did the company take her music without her knowledge or secondary consent, but then an idol had the nerve to pretend it was theirs? She wasn't personally familiar with Taeyong- or any of them for that matter- but it was not turning out to be a good association. She had half a mind to ask Lucas where to find him, or for his contact information, or hell, she'd go off on the whole group. 

Actually, on second thought, she didn't have half a mind to do it. She had a whole mind. 

"Lucas. I think I need to have a little conversation with Taeyong." 

"I don't know if-" 

"Where would I find him?" 

"I... he lives in the dorms. He sometimes sleeps in the studio, though, so there's no guarantee that-" 

"Can you get me in contact with him?" 

"I... I don't think I'm supposed to just hand out contact information..." 

"What, you think I'm gonna sell it or something?" The idea that he thought she was untrustworthy was obnoxious, but understandable. He didn't even know her, after all. She tended to forget that no matter how close a fan may feel to a celebrity, the relationship isn't mutual. Still, she needed to speak to Taeyong for business reason, not some sick fan-tasy. 

"N-No! I didn't say that! He just- I-" Trying to stutter his way out of her attacks, he finally sighed. "Look, I'll call him for you, okay?" She leaned back on one foot, saying nothing, holding her hand out as if to gesture for him to do so at that specific moment. He looked incredulous at first, but he didn't want to continue to cross her. Heaven knew it wouldn't end well for him...

Pulling out his phone, she watched as his larger hands slid over the sleek case, struggling slightly to scroll through his contacts. Seeing his eyes focus as he located it, he pressed on it gently, holding the appliance up to his ear as he made brief eye contact with her. Waiting as it rang a few times, his demeanor shifted, face lighting up with that fake-phone-happiness. she didn't doubt that he was content to speak to his friend, but the situation was rather irregular. Not only that, but at this point, the producers had basically snuck out, leaving her and Lucas isolated in the booth. 

"Hey, Taeyong!" A pause. "Yeah, yeah, everything is good, where are you at right now?" Another little bit of silence as he waited for the response. "Oh, nice! If you're almost done, could you drop by the company? Oh, you- oh, perfect! We'll meet you in the studios, then?" Saying goodbye very briefly, Lucas pulled the device from his cheek, looking down to hang up. 

"Okay, he was just finishing up with a meeting for his personal music, but he's on his way back to the building anyway. We can meet him in whichever mixing studio he's working in." She wanted to speak to him as soon as possible, but she supposed she didn't have much room to complain. She had basically verbally attacked an idol, forced him to put her in contact with another idol, all because she wanted to chew him out for stealing her work. It didn't exactly look all that great for her, but she was so worked up over the whole situation, she didn't even care. 

They thankfully only had to wait a few painfully silent minutes. She had considered trying to start up a conversation with Lucas, but he was clearly invested in something on his phone. Whether that was genuine fascination or simply an avoidance of her fiery impression, she wasn't completely sure. As soon as his phone buzzed, though, he looked eager to go. 

"He just checked in, he sent me the room number. Let's go."


	3. Breakneck

The halls weren't unfamiliar to Y/N as they walked. She had often been in the mixing studios herself, although it was mostly after-hours on her own personal time. She liked to use the better equipment for her experimental tracks, even if it meant sacrificing the comfort of her own home. This time wasn't much different, despite the circumstances. It was all for the sake of her music. She didn't care how hot or famous someone was, they needed to take their paws off her work.

Taeyong was checked into a studio she had used before, number 8- although none of them were really that different. This one had the benefit of all the USB ports working, which wasn't something that could be said for every computer in the building, but she rarely needed more than one anyway. When Lucas led her to the room, she could see through the slotted window that he was wearing a pair of headphones, leaning back in an office chair, clearly invested with what was on the screen despite knowing about the meeting. She reached for the doorhandle. Lucas tried to grab her arm so they could discuss before she simply barged in, but she was on a roll now. 

It took him a moment to notice them, as his eyes were closed for a bit. She stood, arms crossed and foot tapping as he lightly spun in his chair, nodding to the beat with a serene look on his face. She could tell by the bass that it wasn't her track, but she couldn't help but wonder if he had stolen that one as well. Finally, as his positioning drifted, his eyelids fluttered open, alerting him to their presence. He seemed completely nonchalant as he took his time stretching, sitting up straighter and gently moving the headphone to be situated around his neck. 

"Hey, Lucas! And, uh..." He looked at her blankly, as if not wanting to just say out loud that he was completely unaware of her name. She assumed that because of Lucas's quick summary, he may know that she worked at the company, and didn't want to play into the stereotypes that idols don't know who work for them. Unfortunately in her case, these stereotypes were almost always true. She understood. 

"Nice to meet you, my name is Y/N." Leaning forward to shake her outstretched hand, he nodded. 

"Y/N. I was just working on some stuff- not sure if you listen to any NCT127 or anything, but I'm hoping they let me perform it as my solo... the big guys don't usually like that kind of stuff, though." He said, laughing awkwardly. "Sorry, I'm rambling. Lucas is used to it, we complain about getting shifted on solo all the time." Lucas rolled his eyes, obviously considering Taeyong's problem to be far overplayed, but he said nothing. "Anyway, enough of that, what can I do for you?" 

Y/N's confidence in her anger was quickly slipping out of her hands. She grasped for the fury that she was palming not a minute prior, but he seemed so innocent and unconcerned about it. Normally, this would have made her ire worse, watching him enjoy life as he stole her music, but... it was just so hard. She looked to Lucas for some assistance as both boys stared expectantly at her. Coughing, he tried to put up the concern lightly.

"Y/N had some issues with... the new song." Taeyong's eyebrows slanted. 

"Which one? Was it-" He was about to say something, looking over with a weird expression. When her face twisted as well, he held up a hand. "Sorry, confidentiality stuff, I don't want to accidentally-" 

"We only have like, two right now." Lucas laughed at his weirdly formal approach. "I forget what it's called... I think it's like, speed?" At this, Y/N found her voice again. 

"Woah, hold up. It's not called "Speed", that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard! I titled the track Breakneck, it's not-" 

"Oh, yeah, that was the file name." Taeyong said idly. "They're usually code, though, so I never really pay attention to-" 

"So you did take it!" She accused. At this, he seemed incredibly confused. 

"Took it?" 

"I heard Lucas singing it, and he said that you said you wrote it! The company didn't even tell me they were using it, and now you're just gonna pretend-" Putting up his hands defensively, he rolled back in his chair. 

"Hey, hun, calm down. I'm sure this is all a big misunderstanding. I never said that it was my song." 

"Like hell I-... what?" Still in a protective position, he explained. 

"Look, I really like Sp- sorry, Breakneck. I'm no producer, but I was offered the chance to mix it and add a little twist for the SuperM vibe, so I accepted. That's all." 

"Alright, but Lucas said that you claimed it was yours." Looking over at him, Taeyong half-asked, 

"I said that it was a project I was working on." Lucas' head tilted as he thought back to the supposed interaction. Eyes widening just slightly in a hint of realization, he said, 

"Oh... I guess that is what you said." Putting a hand to the back of his head, he laughed. "That's on me, I guess I just assumed you meant your project." Sighing as the emotions drained from her body, she found herself sitting on the floor. It was a bit strange, but it was comfortable for her, and she didn't really care what these two crazies had to say about it. Putting her hand to her head, she breathed out. 

"Uh... are you okay?" Taeyong asked. He wasn't exactly smooth, to say the least. "I thought you'd be happy. Seeing as how we're not stealing from you and all." 

"I... look, I'm honored or whatever garbage I'm supposed to say, but... It's still my music. And SM just... gave it to you." 

"I... but aren't you a fan?" Trying to keep from having a breakdown, she posed, 

"Yeah, but like... Imagine if they told you that you couldn't officially release GTA-" 

"That happened-" 

"Yeah, but then they gave it to Super Junior to perform or something." 

"...Oh. I mean... I wouldn't really appreciate that-" 

"Exactly. And is it because you hate them?" 

"I guess not, but-" 

"But it's your song, and you worked really hard on it, and you had a vision for it, and now all that's going to get messed up and there's nothing you can do about it?" Breathing out with a whistle, he nodded once. 

"Yeah, okay... Maybe you can help me catch your vibe? You know, make it how you want, just through me?" 

"I... I don't know." She was hesitant. For one, he could just claim the rights to do whatever he wanted at any point. No matter how nice, she never quite trusted anyone with her songs. Not only that, but she still wouldn't get any true credit for it. It wasn't that so much that bothered her, but more that everyone would think her song was someone else's. It hurt. Noting the grimace on her face, he tweaked his proposal. 

"Well, how about you just listen to it for a bit? At least get a feel for what I've been doing." She couldn't refuse that. Lucas watched as she took his side, leaning over the computer as he clicked out of his file and into Breakneck.


	4. Interruption

Taeyong's headphones allowed him to spin the speakers for comfort, so he held one side to his ear and spun the other to offer to her. She leaned over awkwardly with her ear hovering over the round, leathery device, leaving mere inches between the two. She shifted weight between her legs as she hear the various clicks and buzzes of the boy using his cursor on the laptop. Noting her discomfort, Lucas pulled a second office chair out from under the accompanying desk. 

"Here.' He muttered under his breath, offering it to her as she gratefully sat down. Taeyong didn't even noticed, caught up in trying to mess with a few things. Lucas also pulled the headphones out of one of the monitors, plugging it into Taeyong's PC, finally causing the boy to notice. 

"Oh, you found more headphones?" 

"There have always been two." Lucas commented idly as the boy looked on with a stare. 

"Huh." As Lucas coughed, trying to point it out, he continued, 

"That means you can back up. And wear your own." Looking between Y/N and Lucas, he started stumbling on his excuses. 

"Yeah, right, right... sorry-" Clicking a bit more sporadically, he hummed, "Okay, here it is." After a moment, though, there was no audio gracing her own headphones.

"Are you going to play it, or...?" 

"Yeah, I- yeah. Just... don't judge it too hard, okay?" Really? He was the famous one, with all the solo tracks and fans and groups. He was worried about her opinion? Strange, but she just shrugged. 

"Whatever, let's hear it." Hesitantly, he clicked play, allowing the intro to load up. Aside from a few minor synth adds in the background, the opening was generally the same. Closing her eyes as the piano notes danced across the baseline, she waited for the vocals. It was definitely a buildup, but she had done that on purpose. As inexperienced as she may have seemed, she knew what audiences wanted. Just before they made it to the vocal entrance, though, the music cut out. 

Eyes sparking open, she looked to Taeyong, confused. At first, she thought he was looking back, giving him a funny stare as a silent way of asking what he was doing. As she did this, though, she realized that he was not looking at her, but rather past her. Turning curiously as she pulled the headset from her ears, she saw another familiar face leaning through the door. 

He was an icon of the industry, as was everyone in SuperM. He was practically in every group, spoke plenty of languages (although none of them well), and was widely regarded as a fan favorite. Mark Lee, eyes flitting between all the members as he invaded the space without so much as a knock, had several questions. 

"Uh, hi?" Taeyong said with a strange tone. She knew they must be friends, but for some reason it seemed like Taeyong didn't want them in the room. 

"Hi? Who is this?" Mark immediately asked, unaware of any social cues any of the three were putting out. 

"Mark, this is Y/N." Lucas introduced her, holding his hand out as a gesture. "She's the producer who wrote Speed." 

"Breakneck." She insisted. 

"Sorry! Force of habit. She wrote Breakneck." 

"Oh, is that what you guys are looking at?" He asked excitedly, rushing in to crowd up behind Taeyong. "Did you add a rap for me?" Sighing, Taeyong clicked into a bar. 

"Yeah, it's right-" 

"Add a rap?" Y/N asked, head tilting slightly. "Why does he need two raps?" 

"Two...?" Taeyong was just as puzzled. "He didn't have one before." 

"Yes he did, I spent like, literal hours making sure it was perfect for his style." 

"Well, when the company gave it to me, he didn't have a rap." Thinking back through the lyrics and the setting, she wondered what might have gone wrong. 

"Here, I'll write down the lyrics, you can-" 

"I mean, we made a rap." Taeyong interrupted, slightly annoyed. He obviously wasn't taking well to her breezing over his work so quickly. "In fact, Mark can listen to it right now." Pulling out the jacks for both headphones, Taeyong turned the external speakers up, skipping to the part of the file that assumedly contained the rap. Hitting play, her nose scrunched. 

It wasn't bad, necessarily. Once you're used to something and enjoy it, though, it's hard to change. This explained her problems with Taeyong's new rap. The lyrics were base, and although the flow was immaculate and gave a good vibe, it didn't fit with the rest of the track. Mark seemed to enjoy it pretty well. Lucas laughed as the rap finished up, prompting Taeyong to ask what was so funny. 

"Look at her face, man, she hates it." Taeyong looked to her, causing her to realize the disdain written all over her. She tried to relax her muscles, but the blood was already pooling in her face, heating up her skin. 

"I- I don't hate it, I just-" 

"What, you think yours was so much better? Let's hear it then." Taeyong muttered, muting all the vocal tracks one by one. Checking to make sure it was clear, he hit play, letting the intro to the beat move into the rap. Now annoyed once more, she rapped her original lyrics over the music. While her rap was a bit longer, (meaning it didn't quite fit), the flow was relatively the same. She was no Mark, but she knew their style like the back of her hand. 

When she had finished, she looked at three varying expressions. Taeyong looked reluctantly impressed, while Lucas smiled approvingly and Mark was practically jumping off the walls. 

"I love it!!" Mark said with a huge grin on his face. "Can we please use it?" 

"Man, watch it." Lucas mumbled, jerking his head towards the other man.

"No, it's fine." Taeyong admitted. "It was really good. Maybe... we can work some of it in." 

"It's not like I have any final decision." Y/N said, rather passive-aggressively. 

"What?" Mark seemed confused. "You're not like, our producer? For the new album?" She couldn't help but laugh out loud. 

"No. I just work upstairs." 

"Well, we need to fix that then!"


	5. Registered

Everyone in the room began laughing, aside from Mark. One would think with all his experience, he would know why his suggestion was so outlandish (despite his age). Even Y/N, who would obviously love to do so, knew it was impossible. The company did what the company wanted. If she was going to be the producer for this album, (which was almost unheard of to begin with- no one usually gets to do a whole album, they generally worked on a song-by-song basis) then they would have just made her the producer. She was condemned from the moment they stole her song. 

"That's impossible, Mark." Taeyong mentioned, clicking around in his document again. 

"Why? You guys are all so obsessed with the red tape, we should just insist." 

"And get fired." Lucas muttered under his breath. 

"If you think they're gonna fire us, you're crazy too." Taeyong continued, reprimanding both of them for their lack of knowledge on the topic. "Look, if they wanted Y/N to produce, she'd be producing." He reaffirmed her previous thoughts. "No offense, but I didn't even know who she was like, three seconds ago. Even if her skill was somehow out of the ordinary, they'd never debut a producer by having them do an entire album. It's out of the question."

"Yeah, but this song is really good-" Mark countered. "And I'm sure the rest are too. Y/N, have you done any other?" He asked, putting her on the spot. 

"I- uh, I mean, yeah, but-" 

"For SuperM specifically?" 

"Huh?"

"Our vibe, I mean." 

"Well, yeah, I guess-" 

"Then it's settled." Mark clapped his hands once. "She'll produce the album." 

"You can't just decide that-" Taeyong was to the point of practically begging him to just shut up, but he was on a roll now. 

"If you guys don't want to help, that's fine. I bet you're just mad that she wrote a better rap line than you." Taeyong's eyes narrowed. 

"Wow, okay, that's not-" 

"Anyway, I'll figure it out." Mark basically walked over him. "In fact, I might go talk to them right now." He began to walk out of the room. 

"The work day is over." Lucas reminded him. Turning in the other direction, Mark amended in the same tone, 

"I am going to go practice right now and do that tomorrow." Y/N and Taeyong had the same, surrendered look on their faces, although she was still hopeful. Taeyong knew it wasn't possible, and he honestly didn't have much interest in fighting a losing battle. It wasn't that he disliked her, but there wasn't much to be done. 

"I'm sorry about the song, but I can't really, you know... give it back." 

"...Yeah." She didn't really have much option. Yelling at him wouldn't fix it, no matter the attitude she had before.

"If it makes you feel better, they ditch my solo shit all the time. if you ever wanna work in here, you can." 

"I... I mean, I already do." 

"Oh... sorry, I've just never seen you down here before." She'd crossed paths with him a few times, but it made sense that he'd never notice. On the nicer side, he was probably just busy. Or pretentious. "Anyway, if you ever want me to like, check out your stuff, just let me know. You can like, text me or whatever." 

"You just give out your phone number?" She asked skeptically, partially using the comment as a way to remind him that she had no means of contacting her. 

"I mean, are you gonna sell it?" 

"I didn't plan on it." 

"Well, then-" Looking around, he asked, "Do you have a sheet of paper?" Nodding, she reached for the desk drawer, knowing that there was generally a pad of sticky notes or a loose receipt in the common rooms. "Actually, just give me your arm." Before she even responded, he grabbed her arm, putting the cold, sticky tip of a black marker to her inner forearm. Looking at the clean handwriting, her nose crinkled. 

"There was definitely paper in the desk." 

"Well, now you won't lose it." 

"I could have just typed it into my phone right here." 

"Do you want me to take it back?" He warned jokingly. 

"How?" She laughed. "Are you gonna cut my arm off? That's like, Sharpie-" 

"Just get out!" He laughed. "I wanna finish mixing this!" 

"Here," Lucas offered, opening the door for her. "Maybe we can go talk. I can give you my phone number as well." In all of her banter with Taeyong, she had almost forgotten that he was in the room. 

"I mean, you're always welcome to stay and help with the song if you want." Taeyong completely changed his stance. Why offer to have her stay now? 

"No, we don't want to bother you." Lucas reassured him. "We'll get out of your hair." Opening the door a bit wider, he allowed Y/N to walk out, an action she felt almost pressured to take. Striding down the hallway, Lucas was quick to jump on his previous offer. 

"Here, give me your phone, I'll put my number in." Surprise, she stuttered in agreement, unlocking it and opening up a new contacts page. "Alright, I texted myself so I have your number, but you can text or called whenever." He smiled, handing it back to her. "Are you in a rush?" He asked. 

"I, uh... I mean, not particularly, but I should probably go home eventually. It's getting kind of late, and I have some stuff to finish up. I've been trying to get a song through, but uh... I guess technically I have. I might take a break." This seemed to concern him just slightly. 

"Y/N, you shouldn't give up. I'm sorry about the new track, but-" 

"Yeah, yeah, I know, I should be grateful that they like it at all, I get it." Turning towards the entrance, he walked after her. 

"That's not what I meant, I just..." 

"It's fine, man." She pretended to laugh awkwardly. "I'm gonna go get some rest. I'll see you around, maybe?" Without waiting for a response, she left him in the building. 

Once she had made it home, she pulled out her phone again, breathing out a sigh of relief at her solitutde. Looking down at it, though, she saw that she had a text. The number didn't match the one inked into her arm, and Lucas's name was already entered... So who could it be? Opening the app, she glanced it over. 

Hey- we need to talk, ASAP!!


	6. Message in a Bottle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The italicizations don't carry over from the document, so I apologize for any difficulty reading.

Who is this? 

She texted back. While she knew it had been a pretty active day for new phone numbers, this couldn't be Lucas or Taeyong. Unless one of them had gone through all the trouble to text from a different phone- she didn't doubt that they had multiple. Why not, if you're rich? When she didn't receive an immediate response, she took the extra minute to register Taeyong's contact in her phone. While she had laughed at the prospect earlier, people selling off these numbers was actually a concern. Thankfully, she wasn't a scumbag. 

Just as she hit the small blue 'done' button, another text came through from the unknown number. Clicking on it and watching the pages shift, she read it curiously. 

Come on, Y/N, really? It's me haha

Rolling her eyes, she moved to type back. It was obviously someone who thought she knew of them, not to mention that they knew her name. She saw no harm. 

Hi, me. How can I help you?

Y/NNNNNNN!

I'm serious, I actually have no idea who you are

Mannnn it's Mark- like, Mark Lee? Rap legend?

Is that what's on your company business cards?

You know it.

How did you get my number?

Took it off Taeyong's phone. When I came back he was the only one there, so I just slid in and grabbed it.

Head tilting slightly, she tried to figure out how he'd done that... Taeyong had given her his number, and she hadn't texted him yet. Therefore, her number wouldn't have been in Taeyong's phone. She debated calling him out on that little fact, but she chose to let it go. Maybe it had been a mistake and he had gotten it from Lucas. Regardless, if he was lying on purpose, there must have been a reason, but she found no interest in pushing it. 

Huh.

Yeah, so anyway- save my number!! We have stuff to talk about!!!!!!

Uh, that's the second time you've said that, and you still have yet to tell me what we need to talk about. 

Good point, good point.

So?

Oh! Right, I think I've found a way for you to produce our album

Her mood shifted slightly, although she couldn't even be certain of herself in which direction. How had he managed that? It didn't make sense, idols didn't direct the company, it was the other way around. If anything, he would have been given a hard no and a slap on the wrist for even bringing it up. Not only that, but she thought they had been clear on the fact that everyone had gone home. Had he called someone after hours just to push this agenda? She didn't even know how to respond. 

Really?? That doesn't make sense- I have so many questions. 

Yeah, I know, that's why we gotta talk! If I send you an address, can you come? 

Looking to the clock, she noted that it was already almost eight in the evening. She was tired from a day of working, plus the unprecedented events that had appeared in her path were still reeling in her mind. 

I don't know, man, it's late. I haven't even eaten yet. 

If I promise you dinner, can you come? I reeeeally wanna talk about it. It can be somewhere nice!!

It had been a while since she'd eaten out, at least at a reputable establishment. Still, she didn't necessarily have an insane amount of free money to just go spending. Not only that, but if they went somewhere nice, it would mean she'd have to actually get herself dressed in a presentable outfit. Sensing her deliberation, he texted again. 

It doesn't need to be fancy, just nice- you can wear whatever you were wearing at the office. It's on me, promise!! 

Finally conceding, she decided to accept. If he was so adamant about meeting up with her, maybe it really was good news. Again, she wasn't really sure how he would have done it, but she was intrigued to find out. Putting the address into her phone, she realized it wasn't all too far from her work building. However, she had been expecting a restaurant. Instead, it turned out to be a residency. Was this Mark's house? She wasn't sure, but she had been under the impression that he lived in the dorms... It wouldn't be uncommon to have another residency, but something felt off. Still, she didn't have a reason to argue. It wasn't like he was going to kidnap her. 

Looking in the mirror over her dresser, she scrunched her nose up at the outfit. While it wasn't awful, it was just... normal. Not only that, but it was slightly crinkly and definitely worn from a whole day working. She felt bad showing up disheveled, even if only a bit. Pulling a clean top out, she touched up her face, washed her hands, and double checked to make sure her hair was how she liked it. 

Walking out of her place of residence, she set on her way to the address. Once she had arrived near the location, she realized that it was a much bigger, wealthier building than she had expected. She had always seen Mark as a more down-to-earth person, but then again, she hadn't known him personally until just... well, a few hours ago. Maybe he actually appreciated the finer things in life more than she knew? She could ask him about it later. For now, she found herself at a brisk walk, subconsciously trying to arrive speedily. 

Once she had arrived at the door of the address, (more than a few floors up, she might add- further adding to her suspicion of the price of this residence), she realized that Mark, too was standing out in front of the door. It was a crisp hallway with bright lights, evidently clean, and he was leaning against the wall, scrolling through his phone. 

"Hey, what's up?" She asked as she approached, causing his gaze to flit upwards. "What are you doing out here?" 

"Oh, I wanted to wait for you before we knocked so we could go in together." 

"This... isn't your place?" She asked. Laughing, he shook his head. 

"Nah, I'm not rich enough for this. Or prissy. Anyway, come on-" Before she got the chance to ask whose house it was, he knocked promptly. After a few seconds, she heard the slide of the metal deadbolt. The door cracked open...


	7. Switch

As the door to the place opened, her eyes widened, looking over the person standing before them. He was about the same height as Mark, although his posture was a bit different. His hair was darker and his shoulders broader- altogether, he just seemed a bit older. It wasn't his similarities to her accompanying man that made him familiar, though. She recognized him on his own. 

"Hey, Taemin! This is Y/N, she's who I was talking about." Looking to her for a moment, he bowed politely, backing up so as to allow them in. Mark walked through the door first, and Taemin closed it behind her. Looking around, she was astounded at the beauty of the apartment- or rather, penthouse. Everything had a light color to it despite how late it was outside. The countertops and walls were a pristine white, and the wood on the floors was a fairly pale beige as well. Some of the furniture was dark, as well as a fill-size grand piano, but it only complemented the area further. Granted, it wasn't completely perfect, as he had random objects littered around and spread out on countertops. Maybe Mark had done this to him last-minute as well? 

Mark immediately walked to the sitting area, where several black couches sat in a cornered layout, a carpet and table in the middle with little items grouped in the center. He flopped down on one of the ends, pulling out his phone, touching the screen briefly before looking up at the both of them. Taemin just sighed and shook his head slightly, moving to sit as well. Noticing that Y/N had stayed in place, though, he pat the cushion next to him as he leaned back. 

"You're free to sit down, make yourself comfortable." She nodded in gratitude, still feeling a bit out-of-place in the midst of his... evident standard of living. 

"Alright, so as you probably already know, Taemin is kind of a big deal." 

"Stop." The man in question rolled his eyes, leaning forward to put his elbows on his knees. Laughing, Mark held a surrendering hand up. 

"Okay, okay- but really, besides SuperM, he's also in SHINee, and he does a ton of solo work." Y/N nodded- this was all information she knew already. Still, she didn't see where he was going with that. 

"Your point?" She asked, only realizing after how rude it sounded. Quickly looking over to him, she fumbled, "I mean, obviously that's a great achievement, I just don't see how it's relevant to our situation?" He shrugged, clearly not offended. 

"I'm as clueless as you, he just asked if he could come over." This surprised her. Mark had been acting like they had found the solution. 

"My point is that you've been working with the company for like, a million years!" Mark exclaimed, as if it were the answers to all their problems. Taemin looked just as confused as she did. 

"If that's all you need, you should ask some of the older guys. The Super Junior crew debuted way before I did." 

"Yeah, but you're in SuperM with us!" 

"Okay, well Baekhyun is older than me." 

"And he debuted after you. Stop arguing!" Mark was still bouncing off the walls, clearly a juxtaposition to Taemin's calmer energy. Based on the few videos she'd seen of the two, she would have expected him to be more like Mark. Maybe he was just tired? "Anyway, tell her what you told me earlier!" 

"And... what might that be?" 

"I said that I wanted a different producer, and you said...?" 

"That I didn't care who produced the album?" 

"No! After that!" 

"Uh..." he tried to think back. "I think I mentioned that you could probably just bring them in and ask the other producers to leave, but that they might go ask questions and get you in trouble." 

"And?"

"And that if you really wanted it that badly, just have them produce it separately." 

"Exactly!" Mark said with a grin. "See?" 

"See... what, exactly?" Y/N asked. That didn't seem like a solution, just a lot of trouble for nothing.

"Here's the plan-" Mark moved on without even answering her question, leaning forward like it was a secret that he wanted to tell. "We ask the company if Y/N can produce, like I had originally thought. If that doesn't work, we just start bringing her in for the recording sessions and all that, ask the other producers to butt out. And then if they snitch, you just produce the album separately, and we switch them out at the last second!" While Y/N's face was painted with confusion, Taemin's switched to sheer horror. 

"Woah,-" the older man interrupted. "I never said to switch the albums out. It's completely reckless. I just meant you could have it for yourself." 

"That's no fun!" Mark argued. 

"Alright, but you understand that the tracks are checked by a bunch of people before they're released, right? It's not some heist you can just pull, you'd have to switch them out in hundreds of places, without people noticing. It's just impossible. Not only that, but then you're in trouble with the company, the people who worked hard on the tracks are upset, it's just a mess." The boy's gaze shifted a little. 

"Yeah, I mean... I guess that's not optimal, but-" 

"But nothing, switching out the albums is not an option." Taemin sighed. "I'm happy to help you try and convince them to take Y/N as a producer, even just test her out, but I am not going to go any further than that." Addressing her next, he continued, "I'm sure you're a fantastic musician, but it's just not right." She nodded. 

"I completely understand." Groaning, Mark held a hand to his face.

"Fine, I'll go talk to them tomorrow. But you're coming!" He pointed to Taemin. 

"I'll be in for a recording anyway." 

"Good. Now! Enough of that, let's go eat!" Taemin tilted his head slightly. 

"Hmm?" 

"I promised Y/N dinner for coming out so late." 

"And you are not skipping out." She added pointedly, wanting to receive her compensation for this little side quest, even if she did get to meet another idol. 

"Oh, I can cook if you two want." He offered. "There's plenty in the kitchen-" 

"That's okay, I'd hate to make you put in the extra work." Y/N smiled politely, declining for his sake. 

"Yeah, and you suck at it!" Mark laughed, earning him a dirty look. 

"Whatever, Mark, you can't keep eating chicken tenders." 

"Watch me!" The boy said, getting up. "Come on, Y/N- we'll see you tomorrow, Taemin!"


	8. Dinner for Two

As they sat in the restaurant, Y/N didn't really know how to handle herself. While she was the one that had insisted he make sure to take her out, now that they were there, it was a bit awkward. He wasn't quite as dressed up as idols usually were in the movies, but he did have his hood up, and he was periodically taking a pair of sunglasses on and off. The waitress hadn't seemed to recognize him, so that was good at least. When she walked up, she asked for their drink orders. 

"I'll just have a Coke." Mark told her politely, smiling as he looked to her. She stuttered, saying that just a water was fine. "You don't want anything to drink?" He asked, tilting his head curiously. She tried to explain how it was rude to order drinks on someone else's bill, but he waved a hand. "Get whatever you want, on me. You can even get a drink drink if you want." She felt a bit of heat rise to her face out of embarrassment. It was definitely not a good idea to get drunk. She just ordered the fountain drink she preferred and let the waitress walk away. She kept her eyes to the menu, looking over the variety of items.

"You know, this could be really good," He said, making one-sided conversation with ease. "If we can get you this production, and people like it? You could get really famous." She laughed awkwardly, shaking her head. 

"I don't really need to be famous. Plus, if the company thought I had any talent, they would have let me do something about it by now." Sighing, she tried to continue, "I really appreciate you guys trying to be nice, but-" 

"Don't say that!" He yelled loudly, startling the returning waitress as well as several bystanders. Coughing in realization at his outburst, he let the woman put their drinks down and take their orders, a strange intermission to his insistence. Once she was gone, he lowered his voice, leaning forward. "Don't say that, there's something there, and just because the company doesn't appreciate it yet doesn't mean you should give up. I promise I'll find a way to make this happen, yeah?" As he sat back, satisfied with his pep talk, she realized something, processing the information nearly thirty seconds late. 

"Wait... did you actually order chicken tenders?" 

"They're good!" He snapped. "And Taemin has no right to comment on my taste, he eats his own cooking on occasion. Just because he likes fancy food doesn't mean I can't eat chicken tenders." She laughed, expecting his little rant to be over, but he just kept going. "I mean, really! Fans will come to the signing events and stuff expecting my favorite food to be some insane Korean dish with eight thousand syllables. I'm from Canada, for Christ's sake, can I not just like chicken nuggets?" 

"Okay, okay!" She put up her hands. "Eat whatever you want." 

"I will, thank you." He shut his eyes with a victorious grin, taking a sip of his drink. "So, what made you get into music?" He asked. Surprised slightly, her gaze shifted. 

"Huh?" 

"You know, you don't just start doing something for no reason. I started this for a reason, if you ask Taemin, he started dancing for a reason, it's the same with everyone." 

"I guess that makes sense." 

"So?" Debating how in detail she should go, she began to talk about her life, starting with her family and her childhood, her taste in music as a kid, how she evolved and grew as she aged. Eventually, she ended with her job at SM. 

"It was strange, how I got it, actually." She laughed. "I'm obviously not really cut out to be an idol, but-" 

"I disagree, but continue," he interrupted. Rolling her eyes, she carried on. 

"When I was just finishing up high school, I met this guy- still don't know his name, and I honestly can't even remember his face. He was in the school's dance club, but I remember he had a nice voice because he would sing along with the tracks in the practice room. We took a composition class together one semester to fill an extra period. We sat near each other, but we never really talked. Once we started writing our own music, though, he started having trouble, mostly with the software." She laughed, remembering it vaguely. 

"I wish I had paid more attention, I was more shy back then if you could believe it. I don't think I made eye contact with him once. As I was helping him, though, I- reluctantly, I'll say- let him listen to what I was working on. For some reason, he just got so excited, and asked me to compose something for his senior performance. I couldn't really refuse, so we partnered up on it. 

It was kind of difficult at first, because he just said he loved everything I came up with, but eventually we found a vibe that he adored. I even helped with the choreography a little. Not much, though, I'm not a dancer. I went to see his performance that year, and he ended up leaving me a business card. It had a contact at SM, and he said that he was applying for a job, and that I should too." Mark was leaning forward in his seat now, eyes wide with anticipation. 

"So? Did he make it? I mean, obviously you're working here, but how is he? Does he still dance?" Laughing again, she shrugged. 

"I don't know. That's the last I've ever seen of him. Even if he was working here, I don't think I'd recognize him. The only dance I remember him doing it, well... mine." Groaning, Mark put a hand to his face. 

"Are you serious? That's the worst! Now we have to find him!" She put up a hand in pause. 

"It's really okay. I'm sure he's doing great. Yeah, it's a shame we never switched contact information or stayed in touch, but it led me to where I am today, so I can't really complain." He still looked sullen, but the arrival of their food quickly cheered him up. Obviously hungry, he offered a quick apology for his preemptive intermission, digging in. She watched for a moment in amusement before beginning to eat as well.


	9. Uncovering

"Are you sure you don't want me to walk you home?" Mark offered as they stood in front of the restaurant. "I don't like you going home alone in the dark... What if something happens? Who's gonna produce our tracks?" He joked. 

"I'm fine, really. I've been doing it for years, what's another night? And I'm pretty sure they'll be able to find someone willing to produce a SuperM album." She rolled her eyes. Laughing, he seemed reluctant. 

"If you're sure. Just text me when you get home, okay?" She nodded, willing to cooperate just so he would stop worrying. "Actually, on that note," he continued, "Maybe I should make a group chat with everyone? That would definitely make things easier, especially if we're sneaking around behind the company, y'know?" She almost laughed at the thought. If that wasn't some twelve year old's fantasy, she didn't know what was. Still, if Mark thought it would be helpful, who was she to complain? It was his little endeavor, after all. 

"Yeah, that's fine, I guess." 

"You know," he posed, already taking out his phone to start it, "I would have thought you'd be more excited, what with us being famous and all." She shrugged. 

"Don't get me wrong, I think you're all very talented, and I'm very much a fan, but after working this close to so many celebrities for so long, you learn not to overreact. I mean, if I screamed every time I saw a famous person, I'd be fired." 

"Touché. Anyway, I just started it, so give it a minute and the boys will start texting. It'll make me feel better, too, since you'll be texting on your way back." Shutting the screen and putting it in his pocket, he looked over, offering, "I'll see you tomorrow?" She didn't exactly know why they'd be seeing each other tomorrow, as she had work, but she didn't want to argue. 

"Sure, see you later." They walked off in opposite directions, Y/N towards her home, and Mark assumedly towards wherever his residence was. It was only seconds before she felt her phone buzz, pulling it out to see the group chat. They couldn't name the chat, as not all of them had the same brand of phone, so the title was full of random numbers, as well as the names Mark, Taeyong, and Lucas. Mark had been the first to text. 

Mark: Heyyyy

Mark: So, this should be everyone

[Unknown 1]: I thought we had a group chat already

[Unknown 2]: Yeah, and the smaller group chat that we made without you

[Unknown 1]: Haha, very funny

[Unknown 2]: I wasn't kidding, but okay I guess :/

Lucas: Wait, I'm not in the smaller group chat :(

Mark: There is no smaller group chat, they're messing with you

Lucas: That sounds like something that someone who didn't want me in the second chat would say

[Unknown 1]: Who's the seventh number?

[Unknown 3]: Probably Y/N

[Unknown 1]: Who?

Mark: Oh my God if you guys would just chill out for THREE seconds I could explain

Taeyong: Ohh yeah that must be Y/N

Lucas: Yeah she's in my phone

[Unknown 2]: That's pretty suspicious

Lucas: No it's not, I met her earlier

Taeyong: Why did she text you and not me >:(

Y/N: I didn't text him, we switched numbers by phone like normal people

[Unknown 3]: She speaks 

Mark: GUYS

Mark: Okay, here's the deal-

Mark: For those of you who weren't aware, Y/N is a music producer, and we accidentally used one of her songs

[Unknown 2]: Which song

Taeyong: Speed, but don't call it that she'll throw a fit

Y/N: It's not a fit, and I'm only mad because that's not what it's called, it's called Breakneck

Mark: Yeah, yeah, anyway

Mark: We want her to be able to produce the album, she's really good

Taeyong: She's not bad

Mark: Stop being mean

Mark: Anyway, we need everyone on board for this, we can talk about the details later. I just wanted everyone on the same page first. 

[Unknown 1]: Y/N, what's your last name, for the contact? Or should I just write 'Y/N Music Lady'?

Y/N: Oh, actually, I don't have like, half of your contacts. I just have Mark, Taeyong, and Lucas

Taeyong: Oh, so you DID have my number, you just didn't text me

Y/N: Mannn it's been like, three hours, chill out

Y/N: And how could I not have your number, you Sharpied it onto my arm 

Mark: Everyone just type your name in the chat so that Y/N can get them all

Mark: I'm Mark

Y/N: Yeah, I know. 

[Unknown 2]: Kai

[Unknown 3]: Lee Taemin

Taeyong: Bruh she doesn't need both our names

Taemin: How do you know

Taeyong: She could literally just look them up

Taeyong: This is Taeyong btw, but you knew that >:(((

[Unknown 1]: Chill out

[Unknown 1]: This is Ten 

Kai: Chittaphonoannohin Leechayasdfkjhpornkulk 

Ten: Sure

Mark: Is that everyone? 

Lucas: Mark you literally forgot to even put Baekhyun in the chat

Mark: Are you serious

Ten: I bet he did it on purpose

Kai: Honestly

Kai: Do we have to though

Mark: What's your problem with Baekhyun? >:(

Taeyong: He's definitely kidding they're literally in the same group

Mark: Ohh, you right, you right

-Kai added [Unknown] to the chat-

Baekhyun: Eyyy what's up

Mark: I'm not gonna recap, just have Kai send you screenshots

Baekhyun: Rude

Baekhyun: Hi Y/N

Y/N: Hi?

Baekhyun: Kai's been filling me in the whole time

Mark: So you knew he was gone and didn't say anything??

Kai: I mean

Kai: At least I'm the one that noticed

Mark: Look, we'll talk about this tomorrow when we get there

Mark: Y/N, where do you work?

Y/N: At SM

Mark: But like where though

Y/N: In an office

Kai: Wow you're so funny

Mark: Shut up stop bullying her or she'll make the album sound bad

Kai: You really think your little plan is gonna work

Taemin: That's what I said

Mark: STOP

Mark: We'll deal with it tomorrow, I just wanted to make the group chat

Kai: Okay, well I have stuff to do, I'll see you all tomorrow

Taemin: ^Same 

Just as the chat was finishing up, she made it to her place. Sighing at the inconvenience of not being able to relax while she talked to them, she entered the building turning on the light and throwing the phone down on the bed. Just as she did so, another text buzzed, but she decided to get it later, grabbing a towel to get ready to shower. 


	10. New Job

Stretching as she watched the early morning sunlight filter through the blinds, Y/N yawned, grabbing her phone. It was a bad habit, but she always checked it just as she woke up. On most days, she would even come close to being late just because she sat on it for so long. Opening it, she saw a few more messages, but they were mostly just the boys messing with each other, so she merely skimmed them before actually getting up. 

It didn't take long for her to get ready, as she was used to her work look by now. Thankfully, there wasn't a strict dress code, either, so there were no issues with the clothing. Once she was satisfied with her appearance and collected her personal belongings, she headed out towards the office. 

Once she arrived, she had heard nothing from Mark or the others, so she went to go do her normal job. As she placed her belongings down, her boss walked over to her, clearly having been waiting for her to arrive. 

"Hey, Y/N, morning!" They said, setting a few papers down at her desk.

"Good morning, what's up?" She asked, setting up as usual. 

"Not much for you today, actually. Since you finished all your paperwork yesterday, they're having you mix a few tracks, just to see how they turn out." A grin spread across her face. Days like this were her favorite- alone in the studio, just chilling with her music and her thoughts? Yes, please. Picking up the file excitedly, she flipped through it, reading the headers. 

"They're all code names, of course, but if they like your mixing enough they might let one through." They said with a tinge of promise. "Don't get your hopes up, though, it's just an experiment." 

"I just like doing it," she reassured them with a smile. As she reached the last page, she looked up in confusion.

"There's a blank sheet in here. Do you need this back?" She offered. This caused their smile to grow. 

"Actually, they want you to mix a song on your own. The company knows you have a few, and it seems they've taken a slight interest in you."

"Rookie work?" She asked apprehensively. It wouldn't be the first time she'd been directed to try and find a style for a new group, but they all fell through.

"Apparently, you were recommended by a member of a group that's already debuted. They want to see what you have to offer specifically." There was no way... did Mark actually manage to get her in? 

"O-oh!" She said with surprise. Patting her lightly on the back, they turned to walk away, offering one last blessing. 

"Work hard! I know you'll do great!" Smiling ear to ear, she gathered up her belongings again, running to go get her favorite studio. She made quick work of booting up the monitors, getting her gear running, and plugging in some of her personal audio accessories. Opening her programs, she jammed a flash drive into the side of the computer, pulling up some tracks. She wasn't sure which one she wanted to pick for her blank sheet, though... She had one chance to impress the company, and she couldn't give it up. 

As she was about to pull her headphones on and get into mixing, she heard heavy footsteps coming down the hallway. They weren't heavy in the sense that it was a large person, though, more so that someone was running at full speed down the echoing halls. Morbidly curious, she watched through the window of the door as someone rocketed past, a dark brown and blue blur. Suddenly, their sneakers squealed on the tile as they came to a halt. Coming back, they swung open the door harshly, surprising her. Looking at the tall figure, she realized it was Lucas. 

"Yes! I knew I'd find you first!" 

"I- what?" She asked, confused to no end. 

"Taeyong said that-" 

"Dammit!" She heard a slightly higher voice from behind him. "That wasn't fair, you're taller than me!" 

"By three inches, stop being a baby. I found her, I win, end of story." 

"Mind filling me in?" 

"Oh, Mark asked us to find you." Taeyong said, still slightly out of breath. "So we raced." 

"You... could have just texted me." Pausing, both of them looked to each other. 

"Yeah, I guess that would have been easier." Lucas muttered. "Still, we found you. Come on!" 

"Excuse me?" She asked.

"You're coming to our practice room so we can talk!" Shaking her head with a laugh, she pointed to her papers. 

"Sorry, boys, I have to do my job first. Maybe I'll catch you after." 

"What job?" Taeyong argued. "I thought you only mixed tracks for fun." 

"Actually," She glared slightly at him. "I'm mixing a few tracks so they can try out my style. I even get to put my own in. So, I'll need to be doing that. Mark can come here if he really needs to talk that badly. You know the room number." They both looked surprised as she slid her headphones back on, clicking into a track to listen to what was available. As they tried to catch her attention again, she simply pointed to her covered ears and then waved them off. 

"You know, for someone who wants to be our producer, she's a bit ungrateful." Taeyong muttered as Lucas shrugged. 

"We should probably just go, we know which room she's in, we can just tell Mark." 

"You really want Mark to be alone with her?"

"Why not?" He laughed. "He's not scary, he couldn't take her in a fight if he wanted to." 

"That's not- you know what? Nevermind. Let's just go." Walking out of the room, they left her to her own devices. As she listened through the tracks, her spirits only grew. Out of the five they gave her (aside from the blank one) two of them were actually hers, both intended for SuperM. She wasn't sure if they had done this on purpose, but she wasn't about to complain. She began trying to get a feel for the newer ones, nodding her head with the music, until she felt a light touch on her shoulder.


	11. CEO

"Hey, I'm back." Mark said softly as she looked up to him, slightly distracted by the music in her ears. Taking a moment to process what he'd said, she pulled the headphones off, pausing the track.

"I already told Taeyong and Lucas, I have to do my work before I just come and mess around with you guys."

"Oh, yeah, they mentioned that," He pondered. "What exactly are they having you do?"

"Five tracks to mix, two of which are already mine," She recapped, smiling, "And I get to offer a completely new track." 

"That's so awesome! What song are you going to do for yourself?" 

"That's the thing, I don't know." She said with a frustrated glare. "I'm proud of a lot of stuff, but... I want it to mean something, you know?" Pausing for a minute, Mark's eyes glinted. 

"You remember when we went to dinner, right?" 

"Uh, yeah, it was yesterday." Trying to play it off, he continued, 

"Well, not to impose, but... when you were talking about your start to your career and all that, you seemed really happy talking about that guy. Maybe you could redo that song!" Looking away, she muttered, 

"I don't know... I don't even remember him. I'd feel kinda stupid doing that." 

"Think of it this way-" He posed. "If it ends up on the album, whoever it is will recognize it, right? And then they'll see your name as the producer! Maybe you can find him!" She smiled slightly. The prospect did seem nice, but... would he be mad about her not keeping in touch? Worse, he probably didn't make it into the company. Would he resent her for that? Mark drew her away from those thoughts, though. 

"Anyway, back to the other five tracks!" He said excitedly. "How did you manage that?! Did you talk to someone? I mean, if two of them are yours, there's a good chance they're all tracks from the album, right?" Picking them up and looking at the headers, she tilted her head, confused. 

"Wait... this wasn't you?" 

"No! And these are our tracks- this is amazing! I mean, there are gonna be more than six on the album, but this is a fantastic start!" 

"Then... who talked to them?" He shrugged. 

"Maybe they just discovered you when we did." 

"No, they said that they were testing me out based on a specific request. Someone must have said something." 

"Oh... I'll ask around, see who talked. Either way, we should be celebrating!" He smiled widely again. "Come on, let's go tell everyone!" 

"Mark." She insisted. "Let me mix my tracks. I'll come over there later. Didn't you all have a recording session anyway?" He sighed in boredom. 

"Yeah, I guess... It would be more fun if-" 

"Later." 

"Okay, okay! I'll leave you alone- but you'd better come later, promise!" Before she even got the chance to respond, eh ran out of the room. She breathed out exasperatedly. For being adults, they really did act like kids. Maybe now she'd finally be able to get her work done. 

She managed to get about twenty minutes in. She didn't know what she was expecting, but once she had finally found a rhythm, she was interrupted again. Irritated beyond belief as she heard the door open, she ripped her headphones off, spinning in her chair to face the door. 

"How many times do I have to tell you?! I have w-" She stopped suddenly as she faced the man in the doorway. It was definitely not Mark, Taeyong, or Lucas. The man who had interrupted her was much older, as well as shorter and heavier set. A tired look resided on his face, as if it never left. Still, he was smiling politely. While she hadn't seen him in person, she knew why he looked familiar. 

"Y/N L/N, I assume?" He said, extending a hand. She quickly stood, shaking his hand with a nervous nod. She tried with all her might to keep her voice from shaking. 

"Yes, sir." 

"Ah, good. My name is Han Se Min, I'm in charge of a good bit, here. It's good to meet you." 

"Yes, sir, you as well." 

"I hear you're trying to become a producer, yes?" 

"Yes, sir." She knew she may be overdoing it with the politeness, but she hadn't really been caught in many formal situations at the company. She definitely did not want to disrespect this man. 

"Well, one of our singers from a particular group has expressed interest in testing your skills. He's gone so far as to stake some of his own reputability on it. I assume you're familiar with SuperM?" Of course, she was, she worked here. Still, she just nodded. 

"Good. I was recently in a meeting with Lee Tae-Min, and as I've said, we've decided to let you try a few of the tracks. I see you have the preliminary paperwork already." So... it was Taemin? That didn't make sense, he didn't seem at all on board with the idea before. What had changed his mind? And so much so that he'd go and suggest it himself? Maybe he knew that his opinion would hold more sway than Mark's? Did the rest of the group know? She was unable to keep thinking through questions as he continued talking. 

"I'd like to see how you work in the environment aside from just the studio, though. They're actually recording currently. I was hoping you'd be willing to come and mix in real time, help with the recording and such. Of course, you're free to decline, but..." 

"I'd be happy to." She cut in, making sure she got her opportunity. While she was familiar with the equipment, she had never been the sole producer in a recording session before. It wasn't exactly ideal to have one of the CEO's watching her as she did so, but it couldn't be helped. The idea also led her to question why he was involved with this, as there were plenty of people involved with day-to-day operations, but it wasn't her place to argue. 

"Perfect. I'd like to go now, then." He said, gesturing to the desk. "Pack up, I'll wait in the hall for you." Bowing politely, she watched as he left, trying to contain both her excitement and devastating nervousness.


	12. In the Booth

As Y/N walked into the booth, followed by Se Min, she looked over to the boys. It was the first time she'd seen all of them together right in front of her, and she was almost a bit starstruck. As passive as she'd managed to remain, she was a fan. They were all dressed in regular clothes, which was a bit of a juxtaposition compared to the content of them that aired, but they seemed comfortable. They noticed her walking in one by one, causing different reactions in each. 

Both Mark and Lucas cheered, high-fiving each other (Mark having to lean upwards). Kai was looking over her curiously, as it was the first time he'd seen her. Baekhyun, noticing this, elbowed him in the side playfully, assumedly making fun of him. All the while she couldn't hear either pair, as there was soundproofing only breached by the sound system, which wasn't yet on. Ten was staring at her, almost discomfortingly. While it was the first time he'd seen her as well, his gaze was different than Kai's, more piercing. It was like she was a passing celebrity whose name he was trying to place. Taeyong glanced at her once, but then went back to staring at his phone. 

The last person she looked to was Taemin, whom she briefly met gazes with. His dark eyes almost looked as if he were trying to say something, although she couldn't place what. She wanted to ask what he was doing, why he would risk himself on the gamble. He hadn't even heard her music, so why change his mind? He was the first to look away, turning to say something to the others. She was forced to go back to doing her proper job. 

Turning on the system, she tried to orient herself as quickly as possible. It had been a while since she'd dealt with this particular equipment, but she should be able to figure it out well enough. Taking out her own laptop, she connected a few more things, painfully aware of the man behind her's watch. Once she was satisfied with her preliminary setup, she asked them to sing altogether to ensure her initial levels were balanced. Used to it, they had something prepared, although she wasn't really paying attention to the content. She was more concerned with the balance. Flipping the headphones on and off, pressing the button to ask them to move positions, she decided on a balance at first. 

"We'll start with all the group stuff just to see how it sounds, and if it doesn't balance well we'll record all your parts separately today." They all nodded in agreement, at which point she finally had to look to the man in charge. 

"Is there a specific song you'd like to see?" He shook his head. 

"It's up to you." Breathing in deeply, she thought for a moment. She definitely had to go with one of her own songs, just for the sake of making sure it turned out properly. The best bet would be to go with something she knew, and that she was confident they knew. Pressing the button to talk to them, she said, 

"We're going to record Breakneck, apart from what you've already created. I have those tracks, and I may use them, but for the sake of being thorough, I'd like to go over everything again." They agreed to this as well. Opening the track on her computer, she made sure the system was connected. The way she had it set up, the tracking would play in their headphones as well as the speakers in the production booth, but not in the recording area itself. This would prevent feedback with the microphones. 

"Just do the chorus for now." Starting it up with the intro, she set the system to record into the file she desired, watching as they moved to their designated microphones. As the chorus hit, they all began singing, seven voices filling the headphones at once. The way she had set it up, each microphone was to record its own file, but there would definitely be background noise. This was mostly just to finish balancing levels. As she fiddled with dials and sliders, her arms were flying across the several boards. Admittedly, live production wasn't usually a one-person job, but she couldn't exactly mention such a thing in front of the CEO. 

"Again." She said, almost at the exact second that they finished. 

"Again."

"Again."

"Again." She made them run it more than a few times- she lost count. Every time, though, she was adjusting, adding, listening, it was integral that she get this right. Even after many runs, she wasn't quite satisfied with everyone's performance, but she realized for her own sake that she should move on. If she got too hung up on this one thing, she may lose points with her overseer. If anything, she should be able to splice takes to create what she wanted. 

"Alright everyone," she said through the speaker as she held down the button, "Normally I you did solo takes, it would be scheduled separately, but since this is a bit last minute, do you mind?" They all looked to each other- some hoping to get out of it, others challenging them to make that call. Finally, they all nodded, generally muttering in agreement. 

"Good." She continued, looking down at her scratches and scrawls all over the sheet. "It looks like... Kai has the most singing lines for this, so we'll start with him. We'll do all the singers in a row, then the raps, then I may ask for some background effects." Kai seemed slightly surprised by this, but he was content to take a seat on one of the stools, watching the others file out of the recording booth and into the crowded studio with her and Se Min. Taeyong moved to say something to Mark, although she couldn't hear it. Taemin stood directly next to her, practically leaning over her by placing his hand down on the sound table. Lucas and Baekhyun were content leaning against the wall. 

She started him off with his sections of the verses, letting him sing through all the parts with the backtrack in between, just for his own sake. Once he had the timing down, she'd let him do it without listening to the whole song. As she listened, she watched, nudging just a few settings. Once he had finished his first run, she held the button. 

"That was good, Kai, we can try it once without leaving all the gaps." 

"Don't lie to him." Se Min interrupted. A bit surprised, she turned, face heating up slightly. What had she done wrong? And why wait to call her out until literally six other people were watching? 

"E-excuse me?" 

"You made a face while he was singing. Was there a problem?" 

"It..." she thought. "It just wasn't what I w... was expecting. It's fine, though, I can work with-" 

"No, do what you'd do if I weren't here." He instructed. "If you want him to sing differently, just tell him." Breathing in deeply, she pressed the button again. 

"Actually, could you maybe try singing it with just a little more kick? Use a bit more air, it might help it come out sharper." He seemed a bit confused, but he agreed, and the music started again. It was better, but...

"You still don't like it." Taemin noted. 

"It's not that he's bad- far from it," She started, aware that the two were friends and not wanting to offend either. "I just need a way to get him to understand exactly what..." Before she finished her thought, she got an idea. 

"Hey, Kai-" He looked up, at attention again. "That was way better, but we still want it punchier. Just think of that Can't Bring Me Down tone, yeah?" Eyes shifting for a moment, a smile made its way onto his face. 

"You listen to EXO?" 

"I listen to all your groups." She said, trying to move past that. She didn't want to seem like a fangirl. "You get the vibe, though?" He nodded, saying,

"Yeah, actually, let's try it." 

"Alright, one more time." This time, his singing was much different. As he was still finishing, the older man to her left smiled in approval. 

"By relating it to a tone he was already familiar with, you managed to create the singing style you wanted. Rather impressive. It accounts for your ability to properly work with your subjects." As the music faded out, he said, "I have other business to attend to, but please finish this session as such. Assume that all of your assignments are done in real time, do your own recordings. I suggest you do the majority of your edits outside of recording, though, they can't stay here forever." Turning to the remaining boys in the room, he mentioned, "Don't forget the photoshoots coming up. I expect you all there." As he walked out, he bowed slightly to Y/N, who stood to return the favor. 

"Continue your work. It was good to meet you." 

"You as well, sir."


	13. Critic

"Are you done yet?" Lucas groaned, shaking Y/N's chair lightly by the back. 

"I told you, you are free to go. I have all the recordings I need from you on this track." 

"Well then can we record a different one? I'm bored." 

"Like I just said, you should probably leave. I need to finish mixing this, and then I'd honestly like to go work on the other tracks too. It will literally take hours. You should know that, how long have you been training, now?" 

"I agree with her, we should go." Taemin interrupted. "Plus, she's not going to finish any quicker if we're here." 

"Mark's the one that wanted us to stay." Kai pointed out. "Not her." 

"Alright! Alright! Fine! Stop complaining!" Mark collected the group, turning back to Y/N. "Look, why don't we all go out and have lunch to celebrate? You deserve it! We've made a ton of ground in just one day!" 

"You're not gonna get me with the same trick twice." She reprimanded him. "I may love food, but I'm not going to mess this job up." Sighing, Bakehyun jumped off from where he was standing on one of the chairs. (No one really questioned anything he did anymore). 

"Come on, we'll see her later, some of us have to come back anyway." 

"I don't." Taemin pointed out. "What are you coming back for?" 

"Just an EXO meeting with me and Kai." 

"EXO's still active?" Mark asked with a huge smile on his face. Hitting him in the arm, Baekhyun argued, 

"Not all of us are in fifty groups."

"Boys!" Y/N demanded, pointing at the screen. "Please!" 

"Yeah, yeah, sorry, let's go." Mark grumbled, leaving the room first, the others trailing behind him. "Taemin, are you coming?" He yelled. Looking up from the mixer, she realized that he was indeed the only one left in the booth. 

"Just a minute." He called back. "I'll catch up." He looked at her with a strange passivity as he waited for the group's footsteps to slowly fade away. As soon as he was sure of their absence, he was the first to speak. 

"You're looking at me strangely." 

"Me?" She immediately defended. "You're the one who stayed here. And you're the one just staring." 

"Not right now. Before." 

"No I wasn't." 

"I assume he told you, then?" He continued without even acknowledging her denial. 

"Huh?"

"The CEO. He told you." 

"Oh..." She didn't know if he was actually aware, or he was just bluffing, but she saw no reason to lie. "Yeah, he did." 

"And is there a problem with that?" She was now thoroughly confused, trying to figure out what to say. It wasn't helping that his demeanor was disorienting- ever since he had met her, he'd been stiff and emotionless, but everything she'd heard about him up to that point had suggested he'd be... well, fun. 

"What do you mean, problem? I just don't know why you'd go out of your way to get me this job. You've never even heard my music, you still haven't. For all you know, I could be awful. At least if it were Mark, they could attribute it to his age, or Lucas his inexperience, but with you, it would be a big mistake. Granted, you're one of the ones who was most likely to get it through to begin with, but it doesn't add up." 

"Let me hear it then." He said with a slight raise of his shoulders. He just wasn't going to address any of the other comments? Or tell her why he had bothered to help her in the first place? Not sure what to say, he held out a hand, beckoning for the headphones. Reluctantly, she passed them over, rewinding to the beginning as he slipped them over his ears, ruffling the smooth order of his hair a bit. She pressed play, singing along with the slight sound bleed so she could keep track of where he was. 

He nodded a few times, eyes flitting around the room, although he wasn't particularly looking at anything. She tried to gauge his reaction to the piece, but his features gave nothing away. He didn't seem particularly excited about it, but not upset either. Once it had wrapped up, he softly slipped the device off his head, handing it back to her with a gentle drop. 

"So?" She asked, waiting for his commentary. 

"So... thank you for letting me hear it." Growing more exasperated by the second, she leaned back, rolling her eyes. 

"That's it? Did you not like it? Were there parts you have things to say about?" 

"It's your music, I'm not going to say anything." 

"Are you kidding?" She groaned. "Why did you even want to hear it then?" 

"You said that I had no right to recommend you without hearing your work. So, now I've heard it. Are you happy?" 

"I mean..." She sighed. "That isn't really what I meant, but-" 

"Taemin!" Mark's voice said again, leaning his head around the corner. He had come back to get his friend. "It's been like ten minutes, man, Kai's about to leave you here." How had they not noticed him running down the hall? Had Taemin been too focused on the song? Or her? 

"Sorry, I'm coming." He stood, following Mark out, only turning to bow politely. She breathed out in a long, extended release, trying to make sense of everything that was happening. Six songs... that might be half of a smaller album. It was definitely better than she could have oped for, and if she impressed them on it, maybe she could do more. Still, Taemin hadn't seemed too pleased. Then again, it was basically impossible to tell. She really knew nothing about them- online videos weren't exactly adequate, as most idols were avid at acting as well. 

In a spur of the moment decision, she picked up her phone, clicking into her contacts. Waiting for the buzzing to turn into audio, she held the device up to her ear. 

"Hey, Mark. I changed my mind- where are you?"


	14. Lunch Date

She walked into the cafeteria awkwardly, looking around in all the buzz for SuperM. While it wasn't uncommon to have tourists, they generally didn't eat with the company. In addition, most people who worked there, like her, didn't get starstruck easily, so the men would simply blend in like everyone else. Mark had explained on the phone that, since she hadn't planned on coming with them, they had just planned to eat in the cafeteria. He offered to change course, but she declined, content simply to be around them. 

She had realized that, in writing music for them, she needed to know them. Not just everyone's strange, ideal idol view of them, but how they really were. That way, she would make songs for them that they'd actually enjoy. She could get a reaction rather than just a passive acceptance. To do this, she figured she just needed to spend more time with them. While it wasn't always going to be convenient (for them or her) it would help her in the long run. 

Seeing her walking around, glancing between tables, Lucas jumped up, waving his hands to get her attention. As one of the taller people in the area, she spotted him easily, smiling at having been saved from her uncomfortable solitude. Walking over, she saw that they were at a rectangular cafeteria table. Baekhyun was sitting at the far end, with Kai to his left and Mark to his right. Taeyong was seated next to Mark, then Lucas to Taeyong, Ten hadn't sat down yet, and finally Taemin next to Kai. It left her either the empty seat next to Lucas or Taemin, the one near Taemin being on the end. 

While she didn't want to seem pretentious by taking the seat next to Taemin, she was already fairly easily able to understand Lucas. He opened up to her much faster, or at least was very good at pretending to. Because of this, she decided to sit next to Taemin. He hadn't even noticed at first, joking around with Kai. She wasn't sure what exactly they were joking about, but they were both laughing incredibly loud, to the point where people passing were giving them sideways glances. 

It was strange to see for her. Taemin's smile looked how it did in videos, on air, when he was messing around with his friends. It was what she had been expecting when she first met him. So it was organic... Then why was he so stoic around her? Was it a discomfort, a fear? Or was it a choice? As she watched them curiously, Ten walked up behind her, leaning over her shoulder to see what she was staring out. 

"What's so interesting?" It was the first time he'd directly addressed her since they'd met, and it caught her a bit off guard. 

"N-nothing, I was just distracted." She muttered, looking down to the table. 

"You don't want to eat?" He asked, sitting down. She shook her head. In truth, she was mostly there to watch them, as weird as it sounded. He seemed slightly concerned. 

"You know, I know you may not be a dancer, but eating is still important. You can't just sit in an office chair all day." He leaned forward to offer his plate to her. "I can get more if you want this." She politely declined again. Shrugging, he decided to begin eating. Although it wasn't her original plan, her attention had now been diverted to the man next to her. 

"So how's the track going?" He asked. "I mean, obviously I heard the recording session, but-" 

"It's alright. I'm not really sure how everyone else likes it, though." He shrugged. 

"I mean, I know Mark likes it. Taeyong might be a little sore because they basically took it from him, but he'll get over it. I love it-" 

"You do?" She asked, finally curious to receive a serious piece of feedback from one of them. 

"Yeah, it's nostalgic for some reason. It feels like home." She found this peculiar- after all, among all of the slower songs she'd created, Breakneck was not one of them. It was meant to go hard, so describing it with such comfortable adjectives was uncharacteristic. 

"That's... interesting." She tried to avoid arguing with him. She was just glad to receive some positive reinforcement. 

"Anyway, don't worry about it. I'm excited to see the rest of what you have to offer." 

"Oh, Y/N, that reminds me-" Baekhyun cut in. "Have they given you a schedule?" 

"A... no? There's already a schedule for the album?" This caused the entire group to bust out laughing. 

"They make the schedules, like, months, or years before the album drops." Kai explained. "Today we had that recording session scheduled, we just didn't know it would be with you." 

"Yeah, so we have deadlines on song completion and stuff. So if you want to get more than six, you might want to finish those up pretty quickly." Baekhyun explained. 

"What? Like... when?" 

"I think we have choreography happening in a few weeks so... soon." 

"How is it that you know all that off the top of your head?" She asked. 

"I'm the leader," he smiled, "That's my job." 

"Stop bragging," Mark hit him lightly on the back of the head. "You have it open on your phone." 

"Shh!" He said, shutting it off quickly as the group laughed again. 

"Who does the choreography?" She asked, thinking back to the conversation she had conducted with Mark at dinner. 

"Uh, it depends." Baekhyun continued to answer her questions. "Ten likes to, we all generally have ideas, sometimes we have professionals come in. It really just depends." She nodded, thinking. Maybe she would recreate that song from her childhood. After all, if everyone got some input, maybe she could slide some familiar moves in. With any luck, she'd be able to complete Mark's suggestion. Worst case scenario, she just... didn't find him. 

"Cool..." she played it off. "I think I'm going to go back to work. Thanks for hanging out, though!" And with that, she left.


	15. Red Eye

"This is ridiculous." Y/N grumbled, leaning back in her chair and putting a hand to her forehead. Her back was aching and her eyes were desperately trying to close, throat dry and irritated. Looking to the top right corner of her monitor, she took passing note of the time- 11:20 PM. She wanted nothing more than to go home and fall asleep, but her work ethic was forcing her to do otherwise. 

When she had first returned to the studio, she tried to start her personal track. Running into some creativity issues, (as she didn't want to copy it completely), she moved back to a different song, one that wasn't hers. It was surprisingly more easy to deal with someone else's work, and soon she had most of the backing done. Obviously she didn't have the vocals, but that wasn't too much of a concern. Then, she tried the new song again. 

This process continued for every song, avoiding the new one until she absolutely had to finish working on it. Now, it was dark out, she was the only one in the studio, and she was still trying to figure out what to do. She had already imported her old files, (which she thought were embarrassingly mediocre to say the least). She started by trying to change the instrumentation, but hated it. She thought about messing with some of the lyrics, also hated it. Changed the beat? Hated it. It was frustrating her more and more. Standing up for the first time in hours, she went to go take a bathroom break- something few and far between for her. 

Picking up her phone she walked down the hall, opening it up. Realizing she had several texts and a missed call, she typed in her password, clicking in. It was on the group chat. 

Mark: Hey Y/N, I'm gonna head out for the day- see you tomorrow!

Kai: Yeah, all our meetings are done and stuff so I'm gonna dip too

The timestamp had been the early evening for those two texts, but scrolling down, there were a few more. 

Mark: Is everything alright? We haven't heard from you all day

Taeyong: She doesn't want to answer

Lucas: She's probably just busy

Taemin: If you're so worried how about you start by not spamming her phone?

Sighing, she remembered how she'd basically been ignoring her phone all day. When she got into a job, she just really couldn't get out of it until she was done. Still, she didn't want them to worry. Even though it was horrendously late, she affirmed her okay-ness. 

Y/N: Hii, sorry, I've been super busy with the tracks and all, just got a chance to look at my phone

It didn't even take another two minutes for them to respond as she finished up in the bathroom. She wasn't exactly sure why they were up, but they nonetheless were. 

Mark: You didn't use it on the way home?? 

Y/N: I'm not at home

Mark: Oh

Mark: Where did you go then??

Baekhyun: It's a little early in the week to be partying, don't you think

Y/N: Very funny. I'm not partying, I'm still at the office

Lucas: Are you serious?? It's like midnight

Mark: You haven't left at all? Did you go get dinner?

Y/N: I just told you, I've been busy, it's fine- I have one more track to work on and then I'll head out

Mark: Are you kidding!! Noooo

Y/N: Speaking of which, I should get back to it- the longer I listen to your whining the longer it's gonna take for me to get out of here. We're supposed to record again tomorrow and I'd rather get to go home before then. 

Mark: Absolutely not, we're coming over right now

Y/N: Mark, really, don't worry about it

She expected some argumentative response from him, but the texts just suddenly stopped. None of the other boys texted, likely asleep or not wanting to get involved. She chalked it up to him running his mouth, shaking out her legs one more time before sitting back down. 

"Alright... only a couple more hours." She told herself, cracking her knuckles and throwing her headphones back on. Shutting her eyes, she tried to imagine the senior performance. The night she had attended, she was wearing a muted, maroon outfit, accented with black. The stage had just been polished the night before, glinting in the yellow glow that illuminated the hardwood, the only sparkles of light that reached the audience's side. Her piece had been the closer... the grand finale, the culmination of everything he'd accomplished. 

She skipped through her memories to think to that moment, that song. The opening was clear, echoing through the hall as he stood, thin and graceful. His control was admittedly impressive as he raised his wrist painstakingly slowly setting a beautiful, swan-like pose for the crisp piano notes. When the real music started, though, it he was on a completely different level. 

He was spinning like some force of nature, commanding everyone's attention with an iron hand. His movements were direct, yet there was still so much emotion flowing out from his body. It nearly brought her to tears, regardless of the music. There were moments when he broke from his own control, whipping out in one direction or another, changing the moves based on what he was feeling. No matter the slip, though, he managed to make it appear perfect. That's it- the dance was simply perfect. 

When he had finished, he was left arms up, breathing heavily as sweet dripped from his face. It was clearly the piece that he had put the most work, the most heart into. She tried desperately to remember his face, his body, something, it felt as though his identity was on the tip of her tongue, but... It escaped her. Even in her mind his features were obscured by his long, dark hair, making up for her lack of information. Still, as the audience began to clap and cheer, he looked up, seeking her eyes. All she could remember was their soft, dark nature, thanking her for her help, and her strange attempt at friendship. 

Eyes shooting open, she realized what she wanted to create. She didn't exactly know how, but she knew that she could put his dance into her music. Graceful but inventive, soft instrumentation that distinctly reminded those watching of his power. Starting from the beginning, she was going to transform this into a perfect representation, something she would actually be proud of if he heard. 

"Y/N!" A voice shouted from behind her, causing her to jump in surprise. Spinning around quickly in her chair and ripping the headphones off of her head. Her heartbeat subsided as she realized that it was just Mark running in, followed by a much less enthusiastic Taemin. Running right up to her and setting a coffee down on the table, he said, 

"I told you we were coming!" Breathing just beginning to calm down, she sighed. 

"I didn't think you were serious. It's so late, I-" 

"Yeah, why are you here so late?" He commented. "We said you had at least a week, this is dumb." 

"I-" 

"Have you even eaten?" 

"Not particularly, but-" 

"Y/N!" He yelled again, causing her to cringe slightly. She'd been in peaceful silence for over twelve hours, and her fatigue-induced headache was not improving with his volume. Noticing her face, he tried to bring it down. "Oh... sorry. Anyway, you have to eat. Here, drink this-" He slid the cup towards her. "It's a bit late to get any, so I had to make it, but it should be alright. Taemin hasn't touched it, don't worry." The other man just rolled his eyes, not wanting to humor the boy's jokes. 

"Whathca workin' on?" He asked, reaching for the headphones. Pulling the cup away from her lips, she pushed his hand off. 

"No touching!" He looked taken aback, so she tried to explain in a softer tone. "It's my one track choice, and it's not done. I'm trying to finish it so we can record vocals tomorrow."

"Actually," Taemin said, his first time addressing her since he'd arrived, "I think that track is meant to be recorded last. It may even overlap with choreographing." This disappointed her slightly, she had been looking forward to working on it... Still, she didn't want to argue. 

"Oh... okay. Anyway, I still need to finish this." 

"Can we at least hear it?" Mark begged as Taemin reached over to grab her coffee cup, taking a sip of it. She watched the movement curiously out of the corner of her eye, but said nothing. 

"Not until it's done." She demanded. 

"If you're not going to record the vocals for a few weeks, I think it's better if you go home now." Taemin said shortly, the drink still staining his upper lip lightly. 

"Oh," she started, not having expected it. "I..." 

"I'll give you a ride." He said, almost as if it were an order rather than a request. 

"You can drive?" Mark asked. 

"I literally drove us here." 

"Oh, yeah... I guess I'm used to your people driving you around." 

"They're not 'my people'. Anyway, let's just go." She stood awkwardly, shutting down the laptop. She didn't know why, but she felt obligated. 

"Why do you listen to him and not me?" Mark grumbled, crossing his arms dramatically. She just rolled her eyes, packing up her stuff, realizing that even standing was beginning to become tiring. She shut the light off and locked the door behind her, following the two men out to the car.


	16. Track 6

Two weeks didn't seem like a long time to Y/N. She was more than stressed trying to get all the tracks done. At first, they thought she had basically finished that night, but the boys quickly realized that she was a perfectionist when it came to her music. Every edit made them sound better and better, and she refused to stop until they were perfect. 

She got into a routine, coming in to either record with the band or work on her own. They'd all go out for lunch together, then come back to the office. Then, she'd stay, usually until midnight, sometimes later. A lot of times, Taemin would sit in on her, not really saying anything, but watching as she did her work. At first, it was awkward and she felt scared to do anything, but eventually she learned to just ignore it. He never told her she was doing anything wrong, just came in and out as he pleased. By the start of the second week, he was asking her what certain stuff did or what effects she was using. 

It gradually turned from him just being curious to actively messing with the equipment. He admitted that he didn't really pay much attention to the recording process when he started with SHINee, as he had plenty of time to goof around with his friends. At one point, she even let him put on a pair of headphones and listen to funny effects on his voice in real time. 

As the start date for choreography grew nearer, she decided to get serious with him. While she was glad that he had finally loosened up and didn't want to risk that, she really did need his help. Coughing as he rode out a laughing fit, she spun her chair to face him. Looking over him, she took in his beat up jeans, the sneakers, the loose shirt and the comfortable smile on his face. 

"Hey, uh, Taemin?" 

"Yeah?" He looked a bit concerned, but continued to twiddle with the buttons on the board. 

"Would you mind staying here late to record some vocals with me?" Eyes narrowing slightly, his tongue passed over his bottom lip in thought. 

"I thought we were done recording for the day. Don't you need everyone? I did my solo lines." 

"It's not that, I..." She breathed in. "We're supposed to choreograph my new track tomorrow, and we haven't done any vocals. The recording sessions and dance meetings didn't line up, which I know is my fault for not planning properly, but it'll be hard to create a dance if they don't know the words. I did a version myself, but... I'd really be more comfortable if you could just do it for now?" 

"I... I mean, I'm more of a dancer, it might be better if you had Baekhyun do it-" 

"Please?" She asked. "I don't really feel comfortable asking him, and I know you've already done a lot for me, but I'd really appreciate it." Pausing for a moment, she added, "And I like your voice." He looked into her eyes, trying to call her bluff, get her to back down, but she held contact. Sighing, he agreed. 

"Yeah, alright. Let me hear it." Reluctantly handing him the headphones, he slipped them on, watching the monitor for the notes as he lightly mouthed along with the words. She watched intently, but it was almost like the first time he'd listened to her music- there was no emotion on his face. He was incredible at control. 

"Wow." He said when it finished, pulling them off.

"Yeah, I know it's not the best, I'm sorry, it's a long story, I-" 

"No, I... It's beautiful, I really like it." 

"Y-you-" She stuttered, surprised. He'd never actually said anything good about her songs before. "You do?" 

"Yeah, I... It's kind of comforting, but strong. I see what you're going for." 

"So, you'll sing it?" He smiled with a nod. "Of course, let's get started." 

As she watched him sing, she found herself obsessed with his methods, the little things he did while he wasn't paying attention. His eyes closed on notes he really enjoyed, he smiled at parts with embarrassingly cute words, he brushed the hair out of his face every time it fell onto the lightly curved bridge of his nose. 

It didn't take all that long, since it wasn't a final take. She just needed him as a placeholder. It turned the piece from less of a dance song into more of an upbeat ballad, but she didn't mind. Even unprepared, he sang beautifully, and it was more than adequate to start choreographing. Still, when they finished, it was just shy of 9PM. He came back into the side of the booth with the equipment, sitting on the other chair with his legs slightly angled. 

"Thanks for all the help." She said, leaning over. "You just saved me a ton of trouble." 

"Maybe you'll actually get some sleep tonight." He commented jokingly. Laughing awkwardly, she broke eye contact.

"Haha, what are you talking about-" 

"Don't play dumb," he laughed again, "I know you're here until like, one." 

"B-but-" she didn't know what to say, "How? You always leave after dinner at the latest- the only reason you stayed today was to help me out." 

"Does it matter? I'm right." 

"I-" 

"Come on, I'll take you home again." He stood, now able to help her turn off all the equipment. 

"Will you help choreograph tomorrow?" She asked, trying to change the subject. 

"Well, it's a little uncustomary the way we're doing things, so probably. Generally I'd let Ten have the first go, but since it'll be his first time hearing the song, and I'm pretty familiar now, I might be some help. It'll just really be to get some ideas, we won't do anything final yet." 

"Oh... okay." It made her feel a little better to know that he'd be there. She wanted to ask about Taeyong, as she hadn't talked to him at all in the past two weeks aside from directives during recording sessions. It wasn't that she didn't want to, he just seemed... distant for some reason. He'd occasionally see her talking to Taemin or watch as Mark got all in her face about his newest exasperated story, but every time he just scoffed or rolled his eyes, walking off. Still, she hadn't even gotten a chance to ask the man himself about it, so she thought it would be rude to explain to Taemin what was going on. 

"Let's go." Taemin said with a small smile, opening the door for her and turning off the light as she walked out.


	17. Reunited

When she walked in bright and early the next morning, she took a slightly different route than normal. Instead of her desk or the studios, she was on her way to the dance studio. When she arrived, the lights were already on, and Ten and Taemin were inside talking. While Ten was in sweatpants and a t-shirt, normal clothes for dancing, the other man was dressed in nice jeans, a strangely styled jacket, and an entire box worth of jewelry. Noticing her look as she walked in, he smiled apologetically. 

"Sorry, I ended up having to be in a last-minute photoshoot. I'll be in and out though, no worries. If you need anything, you have my phone number. I'll try and keep it on." Her eyes widened slightly in surprise. 

"Oh. Okay, that's fine, you said this one wasn't too important anyway." 

"Yeah, Ten's got it-" He grinned, tapping the other man on the shoulder a little harder than necessary. 

"Well, in that case, let's get started." She said with a smile, letting him walk into the center of the room as she brought the CD to the player. She had copied it over as soon as they had finished recording so that she wouldn't have to play it off a laptop, and it was already proving more convenient. She sat on the floor next to the audio control board, listening as he explained what he normally did. 

"So just play it, and I might mess around a bit- if you see any weird moves, no worries, it's pretty normal the first time. We'll do that three or four times, then I'll start actually writing stuff down. It would be helpful if you did that, actually, assuming you don't mind." She shrugged, having no reason to disagree.

"Sure. You ready?" He nodded. She reached over to the play button as the music filled the room. It echoed across the sleek wood, over the mirrors, filling the vast space. Ten's eyes were closed as he stood, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. After the starting fade-in, the clear piano notes themselves dancing in the form of soundwaves. About three measures in, Ten's eyes shot open, staring at the floor with a look of confusion. She watched, waiting for him to start, but... he never did. 

Taemin's voice began to wash over the both of them, soft and gentle. Continuously, though, he was still. She couldn't even tell if he was blinking. Coughing with an awkward gaze, she reached up and paused it. 

"Uh, are you okay?" She asked. He said nothing, simply thinking. She didn't really know what to say, so she cleared her throat again. "Um, I'll just... I can just restart it, sorry for interrupting." She hit the rewind button, clicking the track back to the beginning, immediately regretting cutting in. This time, though, when the sound began fading in, he lifted his arm, bending his wrist slightly in a premeditated movement. 

She watched intently, strangely weirded out by the motion. It fit the track, but he had picked it so quickly. Maybe he actually had been listening for those first few seconds before she stopped it. She was curious as to where he was going with it. When the actual content of the song started, he moved into a spin, causing her jaw to drop. 

She wasn't surprised that he was a good dancer. She wasn't surprised that his movements were skilled and precise, that he was on beat, that it was a beautiful performance. She wasn't even surprised that he was humming along with the lyrics. He was Ten from SuperM after all, he was there because he had talent. She was surprised, however, that she recognized the dance. Not in the sense that he was reusing moves from other videos or choreos, though, she had seen this exact piece before. It was achingly familiar. 

"Oh my God..." She muttered under his breath, standing up, ankles practically about to give out beneath her as she watched, hand slowly moving to cover her gaping mouth in astonishment. Her memories started fusing with what she was seeing, careening her back in time to years and years ago, the dances merging together. It was him. 

He had definitely gotten better. He still wasn't in complete control of himself, but it wouldn't be obvious to any normal viewer. His energy was the same, the emotion behind his dance infecting everyone around him. He took her changes into account, adding moves of his own on the fly, not once opening his eyes since he'd closed them at the start. She didn't know why, but as it came to a close, she found herself crying. It wasn't necessarily overjoyed, or sad, or emotional, she just, couldn't help it. 

When he looked over, she was basically sobbing, hand still over her mouth as he breathed heavily, sweat falling down his face just as it had the day he'd first performed it. 

"It's you." She said in a whimper, unsure of what to do. He ran over to her, catching her off guard as he wrapped his arms around her, accidentally pinning her own to her chest. 

"I never thought I'd see you again." He muttered, squeezing her lightly. 

"I didn't know you made it, I-" she was stuttering, still trying to swallow her shakiness. "I felt awful, I could barely remember you, I couldn't find you, I-" 

"I know," he consoled her. "Me too." He put a hand on the back of her head, "You've been doing so well, though, the song... It's gorgeous."

"No, you've improved so much." She laughed. "I'm surprised I even made it here. I owe that to you, too." 

"Oh," a voice said from the entrance, causing the two to push off of each other hastily and look up, both faces hot as they stuttered to try and explain. It was just Taemin standing there, having changed into normal clothing. "Am I interrupting something?"


	18. Promotions

"You're kidding!" Mark yelled at the top of his lungs, amusing the rest of the group. "He's been here the whole time?!" 

"Yeah, I guess so." Y/N laughed, taking a bite of the sandwich in front of her. 

"Obviously you didn't care about him that much if you couldn't remember him." Taeyong said under his breath, shoveling a bite of his own food into his mouth. Lucas elbowed him in the side, obviously used to this kind of comment. It made her wonder how often he was making them- and what she had done to offend him. 

"Anyway, things are going well." She said with a smile. "The complete mixing deadline isn't for another..." She trailed off as she watched their eyes move from her up to the area behind her. Turning to try and look over her shoulder, she asked, "What are you guys looking-" 

She was cut off by her own sights. Standing behind her was, once again, the CEO. She hadn't seen him since the day he sat in on her recording session. While the rest of the boys were slow to stand, she scrambled to her feet, bowing quickly. 

"Hello, sir. What can we assist you with?" He held out his hands, indicating that they were free to take a seat. 

"No need for all the trouble, I just need to speak with Miss Y/N. Would you mind coming with me?" She felt her chest lurch in nervousness as he said this, the men looking between each other as if trying to figure out what she may have done. Swallowing, she nodded, following him as he turned to walk out of the room. 

They went to the elevator in silence, rising to his office (for which he had to hold up a keycard). When they entered, he directed her to his desk, offering her a seat across from the significantly larger office chair. Sitting as politely as possible and crossing her legs, she looked down at the surface, a bit afraid to make eye contact with him. 

"Y/N, we've been very pleased with the work you've put forth so far." He started, pulling a paper out from one of his desk drawers. 

"Thank you, sir. I've been trying very hard." 

"So I've been told." He said, smiling, causing her to raise her head in confidence a bit. "I've been keeping a close eye on SuperM, as well as receiving reports from Taemin, and it seems you've been performing fantastically." Picking up the papers and tapping them against the desk so that they were straight, he continued, "Unfortunately, we can't allow you to complete the entire album, as you're not signed as a producer." 

Hearing this, her heart felt a pang of disappointment. Of course, she'd known she wouldn't be given the album, the chances had been so slim to begin with. Still, in spending so much time with them, the joy of discovering Ten as her old friend, the guidance that Taemin had offered, as well as Mark's friendship- it had all been giving her an overarching sense of false hope. She supposed it had to come crashing down at some point. 

"That is, unless you'd like to sign on." Her head shot up, looking for any sign of sarcasm. Of course he wasn't lying, he was the CEO- was this a dream? Was she hallucinating? "It would void your current contract, of course, and it would be riskier based on how well you do, but we're willing to-" 

"I'd be happy to sign on." She said, trying to contain her smile. This is what she had come here to do, what Ten had helped her apply here to do. Now she finally had the opportunity to fulfill her potential, to make the guys proud, to do the things she had actually aspired to do. 

"Perfect." He smiled, pushing the papers forward. "We have a lot to read through, then, so let's get started." 

When they had finished the paperwork, almost an hour had passed, and she was becoming stiff. She didn't mind, though- while her expectations had risen, so had her salary, and this meant they might let her finish the SuperM album. She was told by the CEO that they'd talk assignment details later, and she thanked him profusely before leaving. As she walked out into the fresh air and sunlight, she pulled her phone out. 

Surprisingly, there were no texts on the group chat. However, she had several private texts. The first was from Mark, who had simply requested she fill him in after. Second was a message from Ten, encouraging her that she would be okay. Finally, there was a message from Taemin, more curt then Mark's, asking what had happened. Clicking into that chat, she typed: 

Y/N: He asked me to re-sign as a producer with the company! 

It only took him a few seconds to respond- had he been waiting for the message?

Taemin: That's great! Congratulations! What all are your responsibilities?

Taemin: Will they let you finish the album?

Y/N: There's a LOT but it's gonna be super awesome

Taemin: You can always come over if you wanna tell me about it- do you remember where I live?

She thought about it for a minute. He was inviting her over- She had grown much, much closer to Taemin in the last two weeks, spending countless hours with him, even if some of them were in silence. It would be nice to finally get some privacy with him so that she could really see how he was. She was sure she had gotten a sense of it in the booth, but something was bubbling in her to go further. 

Y/N: Yeah, that'd be great! I'm coming from the office, be there in a few!

Taemin: I can pick you up if you want

Y/N: I'll be fine, no worries

As she'd promised, it didn't take her long to get there, walking and taking the elevator up to his floor. Knocking on his door, he opened it with a smile on his face, holding out his arms in offering of a hug. 

"Congratulations!" He said again, smiling ear to ear and leaning forward. As she wrapped her arms around him, she found herself moving towards his face, looking at the grace of his features. Without a moment to think about it, she pressed her lips against him, feeling the sharp breath on her face as he gasped against her skin. Within seconds, he pulled away, staring in awe.


	19. Oh

"Oh my God." Taemin said, hands moving to hold her by the elbows. The corners of her mouth turned up just slightly. 

"Yeah." He must have been surprised, but it was a spur-of-the-moment decision. She couldn't say she immediately regretted it- it had actually been nice, all the time they had spent together culminating into something. 

"Oh my God." He said again. Her face fell as she realized that it wasn't a good 'Oh my God'- he was panicking. "You don't-" he started to stutter, backing up from her and pushing her away slightly. "I didn't- what made you think- oh no." 

"W-wait, what?" She sputtered, blood starting to pool in her face, heating it up. "I- I thought-" 

"What made you think that?" He asked, running a hand through his hair stressfully. "I didn't mean- I just, I don't- I don't wanna seem rude, I- What made you think that I... and you, we..." 

"I- I don't know, I-" she was starting to hyperventilate a bit. "Y-you helped talk to the CEO without even having heard my music, you- you stayed with me, and drove me home, and shared my coffee, and helped me with my s-song, and- a- and-"

"You're reading into this a lot-" he had taken another step back. "I was just trying to be nice, you were going through a lot, you're a good producer, I stand by that, but this? This-" He gestured forward with a slightly shaky hand. "T-that's not what I meant." 

"Oh, no..." She put her hands over her face. Now she had done it. How was she supposed to move on from this? "I- I should go-" She turned around, trying to escape this awful, horrible situation she had created. 

"Wait! You don't have to leave, it's not-" he began to stay. 

"No, you don't need to pretend to be nice-" she reassured him. "I'll be fine." She ran down the hall as he stepped out the door after her. 

"Y/N, wait!" He shouted, but she was already far ahead, trying to keep herself from having a breakdown in the middle of the lobby. Tears desperately trying to escape her eyes, she thought about where she could go. She could go back home, but then she'd just sit in her room and cry. Kai didn't know her very well and he was already close friends with Taemin, so that was a hard no. Close second was Baekhyun, who would also definitely be at the office, but similar problems arose. Not only that, he had trouble taking things seriously sometimes, and he'd probably find the situation funny. 

Taeyong was meant to be mixing in the studio, but she had been on thin ice lately- he would have to be a last resort. She didn't know where Lucas or Mark were, and obviously Taemin was the problem at hand. That left Ten... where would he be? Pulling up the schedule on her phone, she saw that he had booked the dance studio. She started running back towards the office, silently praying that he would be alone. 

Running into the building, quickly swiping her key card, she headed downstairs to the practice rooms, searching for the one Ten had scheduled. Throwing the door open, her eyes searched desperately. He was on the left side, and the room was silent aside from his steps, the squeak of his sneakers against the floor. She realized that he was dancing with headphones in, although she couldn't tell to what- it wasn't her original song, but that was all she could say. She stood there, a few tears still drying on her face, not sure if she wanted to interrupt him. As he made a large turn, though, he caught her eye, quickly pulling the headphones out. 

"Hey, Y/N! What's-" Noticing the disdain on her face, his brows furrowed, mouth shifting. "What happened, is something wrong?" As he said this, it all came crashing down on her again, and she couldn't help herself from completely breaking out into tears. She started crying hysterically, causing Ten to run over and quickly put an arm around her, trying to calm her down. 

"Shh, it's okay, just let it out-" He kept making meaningless comforting noises as he escorted her to take a seat on the floor against the wall. It was the best he could do considering that there were no seats in the room at the moment. "Do you want to tell me what's the matter?" She tried to say something, words coming out through gasps and hiccups. She knew she must look awful, but she didn't really have the capacity to care, rubbing her eyes aggressively every few seconds. 

Explaining what had happened, his gaze softened, apology rising in his nonverbal language. He let her lean on his shoulder as she threw herself into another crying fit just thinking about it again.

"Oh, honey, it'll be okay." 

"No it won't! What am I supposed to do, Ten? I've wrecked everything. How can I ever work with him? He won't be comfortable even being in the same room with me again. He's gonna think I'm weird!" 

"Y/N, you're not the first girl that's randomly tried to kiss him. If anything, you got lucky that you actually made it. You can't be worse from that one girl we saw in Montreal. Or there was this one in Atlanta that-" 

"This is different, though!" She sobbed. "He trusted me to be around him, and I just assumed- I'm so stupid, looking back he really was just being nice. Now he'll never be nice to me again." 

"You have nothing to worry about. You were so excited a few minutes ago, don't let this ruin it for you. Before long, this will all be some funny story we tell at interviews." Sniffing and rubbing her nose, she asked, 

"You really think so?" 

"I know so. Now let's go find you some tissues, yeah?" Helping her to her feet, they walked to the family bathroom, propping the door open so she could blow her nose and wipe her face in the mirror. As she was finishing up, his phone buzzed. Looking to her to make sure she was okay, he pulled it out, holding it to his ear. 

"Yeah? Uh-huh? Okay, I'll be up in a minute." Hanging up, he addressed her. "I need to go talk to someone- are you gonna be okay?" He asked. She nodded. 

"Yeah... thank you. For everything." She said, laughing awkwardly. "I'm sorry you have to deal with this." 

"If you need anything else, just call me, okay?" He offered, smiling before he walked away from the door. Looking in the mirror, she breathed in deeply, finally feeling a bit calm. She had a few options now. She could go home, she could work on her projects, or...

Taeyong. She hadn't figured out what she'd done to offend him. Would he even want to talk to her? He'd been treating her so strangely since this all started, it was honestly up to chance. Still, she owed to to him and herself to try. Putting a brave face on, she shut the bathroom door behind her, making her way to the studios.


	20. Disaccord

Knocking on the studio door, she could see the fluffy top of Taeyong's hair through the window. The first time she hit the surface he didn't notice, so she did it again, a bit louder. This time, he looked over, leaning up from his chair to see who was there through the glass. Realizing that it was her, he sat back down, not even bothering to accept or deny her request. Lip twitching, she opened the door anyway, walking in and shutting it behind her. 

"Hey." She said. He kept staring at the screen, headphones on. Coughing, she said it again, "Hey." Still nothing. Breathing out through her nose, she stepped forward angrily, ripping the device from his head, nearly catching it in his hair in the process. 

"What the hell, woman?" He demanded, standing up and spinning around to face her, immediately on the defensive. 

"What is your problem?" She asked, unwilling to put up with this back-and-forth fake polite nonsense anymore. "I really liked you when we first met, after we started talking. You were working on the SuperM album, your solo content, all sorts of stuff. You were nice, and happy, and accepting-" 

"Are you serious right now?" 

"Look, if it'd because I accused you of taking the song, it was just a misunderstanding, I said I was sorry!"

"You think that's what this is about?" He spat, clearly growing angrier. "You're really more stupid than you look." 

"Excuse me?" 

"You heard me!" He slammed his hand down on the desk. "You know, it's one thing to be such a mythic bitch all the time, but it's a complete other to not even recognize it. I'm not sure if you're incredibly rude, or just that oblivious!" 

"I'm telling you I'll apologize if you just let me know what I did." 

"The fact that you don't even know makes it worth nothing, though!" He put a hand to his head. "You just show up, and what? They make you a producer, give you our album, suddenly everyone's in love with you- in more ways than one! It's ridiculous!" He sat back down aggressively, if that were possible. "I've been working for years to try and get my songs through. I work tirelessly for this company, and the second some random little girl with a few tracks shows up, everyone makes it their God-damned priority to make her famous? 

You don't know anything. You know nothing about business, about the industry, about performing, you just get to show up, do what you love, and go home being proud of yourself. Some of us are stuck here! Some of us have to do things we hate just for the hope of maybe getting one little glimmer of hope. Don't act like you're some prodigy just because Mark liked your rap better than mine, or Taemin wanted to help you out." Pausing for just a second, he laughed. 

"I bet that's the only reason you're here, too. You're running out of friends really quickly, Y/N. Now that Taemin hasn't worked out, you need to come crawling back and hedge your bets, yeah?" 

"Y-you-" she didn't know what to say. "What are you talking about?" Scoffing, he rolled his eyes. 

"Come on, Y/N, don't think I haven't heard about your little move. I can't believe you. It hasn't even been a month, you really think people can just fall in love that quickly? Statistically, most guys take three months just to say 'I love you' to someone they're already dating." How did he know about that? Ten wouldn't have had time to tell him, unless he went out to his way to call, which somehow she found implausible. That was the only person she'd told, so that meant...

"He told you about that?" She asked incredulously, already increasingly mortified. 

"Why shouldn't he have? We've at least known each other for, you know, any extended amount of time at all." He pointed out. "He needed advice." 

"And what did you tell him?" She seethed, fists clenching at her side against her own will. 

"None of your business. But just between you and me, I don't like you very much." 

"Well no shit." 

"Get out." 

"What?" 

"I said get out. Of my studio, of my band, of anything, it's up to you, just get out." 

"We need to talk about this!" She argued. "We can't go on just being angry, it's not going to help!" 

"I don't care if this shit works anymore!" He practically shrieked. "I liked you, Y/N, I really did, and even when I started to get annoyed, I tried so hard to stay nice, to give you the benefit of the doubt. You crawling all over Taemin was just the last straw, so don't act like this came out of nowhere! Now I said get out!" Unwilling to listen to his screaming anymore, she flung herself out of the door, shutting it behind her, leaning against it and sliding down onto the floor. Putting her head to her knees, she tried to keep from crying. 

How much whiplash could she possibly go through in the span of one day? She had been signed, made a fool of herself in front of Taemin, Ten consoled her, made her feel better, she made a fool of herself again, this time in front of Taeyong, who couldn't seem to let go of whatever superficial nonsense was making him angry. It was a mess. Not only that, but she was still in charge of completing the album. With both Taemin and Taeyong being more problematic, would it even be possible. 

"Oh, hi Y/N, I was just looking for you! Ten said you might be around here if you weren't in the dance studio. Why are you sitting on the floor?" She recognized the cheery tone of his voice, looking up to see him standing over her. Mark was holding his phone in his hand, smiled dropping as he saw her face. 

"Hey, what's the matter?" 

"W-what did you need-" she asked, trying to get him to ignore it. 

"I was just coming to tell you we got a concert date set, I didn't want you to find out over text." He said, squatting so that he was at her level. "What happened?"


	21. Kidnapped

"I have to be honest, Y/N..." Mark said, now sitting on the floor next to her. He was leaning against the door while she sat forward, hands on her knees. She had told him the whole story, even the Taemin part, as embarrassing as it was. She told him what Taeyong said in their fight, what she was thinking, all of it. Now, he was trying to offer her the little advice he could come up with. 

"I kind of see where Taeyong is coming from." Her eyebrows angled in confusion. She would have thought for sure that at least Mark would be on her side. Couldn't he see that Taeyong was being irrational.

"Huh?" 

"I mean..." He sighed, obviously trying to think of the proper way to say it. "What he said is true, he's been working really hard to be a producer and an idol. I can see why it might be frustrating if someone who seemingly has less experience gets picked over you. From his perspective, you haven't worked for this at all." 

"But I'm working hard, I-" He raised a hand, cutting her off.

"I know, we all know. No one's trying to say you're not. But you haven't been with the company as long, and you haven't been doing this specific type of work for as long as he has. It can be grating." 

"I... I guess I didn't think about that." She muttered, eyes glancing to the right. 

"If anything, I think he's just disappointed." Mark said. "It sounds like he really liked you, I think he hoped that you two could work together on the album, and maybe on the discography as a whole. He was just as excited about you as I was at the beginning. He was worried because he thought he was competing with me and Lucas for your attention, and then, well... When you went straight for Taemin, I think he took it as an insult. He's a bit ethereal to Taeyong, older, more experienced, it makes him feel inadequate when he doesn't get picked because of stuff like that. He's probably just taking it out on you." She ran a hand through her hair nervously.

"I never would have realized, oh, God..." She breathed, keeping her hand upwards of her face. "I've really messed this up, huh." 

"Yeah, you have." He agreed with a quick nod. Lightly hitting him on the shoulder, she laughed, sniffling a bit in the process. 

"Shut up, you're not supposed to agree with me." He laughed as well, consoling her. 

"Don't worry, it'll all work out." Just as he said this, he fell backwards. Turning quickly to the side, she saw him practically laying on the ground, halfway into the next room. He had been laying on the door, which was now open. Taeyong quickly stepped over him, saying nothing as he half-sprinted down the hallway. Sitting up quickly, Mark turned to her with wide eyes. 

"You didn't tell me he was in there!" 

"I- I didn't think- I forgot that-" 

"Crap! Do you think he heard any of that?" 

"I mean, he may have had headphones on, I guess?" Shaking his head and covering his eyes, he groaned. 

"He is not gonna be happy that I told you some of that." Standing, he offered her a hand to help her up. Taking it, she stood as well, putting a hand on her hip. 

"So what now?" She asked. 

"Well, I guess we go back to what I came here to get you for. We can handle that later." He breathed. "We have a meeting about the tour." 

"And... I have to be there for that?" 

"Well, yeah, duh. You're our producer, now, you might even be there for some of the tour." As they walked up to the conference rooms, he explained how things like this normally worked, and how it might be different because of their situations. Once they made it to the elevator, though, they were interrupted. Surprisingly, it was Baekhyun that walked up, pulling Mark just slightly away from her. 

"Hey, Ten said he needed your help packing up in the dance studio, so you might wanna head back down." Mark's head tilted slightly. 

"But-" 

"No worries, I'll take her up to the meeting. And I'll let them know you two might be a few minutes late." 

"Okay, but-" 

"Thanks!" Baekhyun said quickly, opening the elevator and ushering her in. "You're a huge help!" Before he could even argue, the doors shut, leaving her alone with Baekhyun. 

"Sorry," he laughed. "That was a lie, I hope he's not mad he has to walk all the way down there." 

"I'm... what's going on?" She asked, confused beyond belief. It wasn't as if she hadn't talked to Baekhyun before, and she had started to think she was getting used to his weird tendencies, but this felt strange. 

"You're gonna come and have a little chat with Kai and I." 

"Kai and me." She corrected. 

"Yeah, I just said that. Anyway, it shouldn't take long, and it looks like everyone's gonna be late to the meeting anyway." 

"What even is this meeting you're all talking about? I know it's for the concert, but like, with who? Is it big, or planning, or just telling us what's happening? For this being a business, it's pretty disorganized." She commented, watching as the doors slid open. They were on the conference floor, although at this point she wasn't sure if he had simply taken her there so that Mark would see the elevator light arrive on the correct floor. Pulling her along by the elbow, he opened a door on the left side of the hallway, slipping in and dragging her behind him. 

He flipped on the lights, revealing Kai sitting on the table, one leg propped up and the other stabilizing him on the ground. He looked over as they entered, saying nothing, but offering a nod of his head. 

"You're just sitting in here in the dark?" Baekhyun asked with a laugh. The man shrugged. 

"Problem?" 

"No, no," He pulled her over to the table, removing a table out from under the chair and offering it to her in an ironically gentlemanly fashion. She sat, looking between the two with a bit of unease. Sitting across from her, Baekhyun held his hands out as if waiting for something. 

"Well?" He said. "Talk."


	22. Meetings on Meetings

"What?" She asked, still glancing back and forth. All this confusion was beginning to hurt her head- today was just not her day.

"You heard him," Kai said. "Tell us what's going on." 

"W-well," she swallowed, "What do you know?" 

"We know that you got called into the CEO's office earlier. And that Taeyong's mad. Also, something about you and Ten knowing each other?" 

"And I know about Taemin." Baekhyun turned around, looking at him. 

"Wait, what happened with Taemin?" Gesturing to Y/N, he said, 

"She'll tell you." For the fiftieth time today, she was going to have to recount the whole story. Starting with her signing as a producer, moving to Taemin, (which, as she predicted, Baekhyun found absolutely hilarious), then her fight with Taeyong, her talk with Mark, everything she could remember. 

"Wow. That is..." Baekhyun said as she sat, waiting for their reactions. 

"Something." Kai finished for him. 

"Yeah, definitely that." 

"Anyway, I'm still trying to figure out exactly how to fix everything." Y/N said with a sigh. "I can't believe I'm so stupid."

"Don't worry about it," Baekhyun said with a smile. "We can't all be smart." 

"Shut up!" 

"Look, you may think it's serious, but it's really not. I'm sure Taemin is fine." 

"He is." Kai reaffirmed. "He's mostly just worried that he hurt your feelings. He didn't want you to think it was anything you did, and he's not upset." 

"See?" Baekhyun pointed out. "You're worrying over nothing." 

"Why did you need me to tell you all that, though?" She asked, confused. 

"Oh, we were just sick of being left out of the loop." Baekhyun said, Kai nodding in agreement. "We've been so busy lately, we haven't even had a chance to get all that back-room drama." 

"Although, it's a bit immature." Kai remarked with a bit of a smile. "All of this over some girl?" 

"Hey!" She said, feigning offense.

"Not like that," he laughed, waving his hands apologetically. "Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't, y'know... mind, but all this crushing, drama, not-communicating, who's in love with who crap is just not for me. Just do what you want and move on. I mean, that's what you did to Taemin, right? I can respect that." She felt the embarrassment rising to her face again as he said this, but she didn't really know how to respond. 

"Very funny." 

"Anyway, we have a meeting to get too. Sooner we start, sooner we can finish! This stuff is always boring." He warned her. Opening the door for them again, he made a 'ladies first' comment to his band-mate before shutting it behind all three. The meeting was taking place in a different slightly larger room, only a few doors down the hall. 

When they walked in, the CEO was sitting at the head of the table, as well as several well-dressed people she had never seen before. Then, Ten, Mark, and Lucas were all present as well, leaving only Taeyong and Taemin missing. I wonder why that is... he thought to herself, silently cursing her own actions. 

"Okay," Se Min addressed them, "So all we're waiting for is-" Y/N had barely taken a seat when the door opened again, Taemin walking in. He was dressed casually, holding a bag in his right hand. 

"Sorry I'm late," he apologized, bowing to the people sitting at the table. 

"It's no trouble, we were just about to get started." Y/N kept her eyes averted as he sat in the seat next to her, desperate not to make eye contact under any circumstances. While she wasn't really sure why he had decided to reside next to her, it was better than if she were forced to sit across from him. 

"The concert series will run for about six months." The CEO began. 

"Six months?" She found herself asking incredulously. She immediately regretted it as they looked to her, realizing that she knew nothing about this and therefore should refrain from commenting. Still, he humored her comment. 

"We know it's not as long as usual, but we're playing larger venues." Wait... he thought she meant that sounded too short? She thought that was insanely long. Then again, she'd never paid attention before to how long the tours lasted, she just saw her own ticket dates. 

"Moving on, you will obviously play the entirety of the new album." He said. "In addition, we will have each member perform a solo piece. We're planning for the concert to be about three hours, although the details haven't been completely worked out. We'll need each of you to provide information on whether you have a piece that you'd be willing to perform within our selections. Obviously there are some restrictions, and we'd need to go over everything to make sure it's fit for the show." 

"Shouldn't we wait for Taeyong to talk about that?" Mark pointed out. "He has the most solo content out of us. Maybe he could perform several, even?" Mark was obviously trying to fight for Taeyong to have more exposure. If what he had said earlier was true (which she didn't doubt) he was attempting to start solving it now. It was almost noble, if not even just very kind of him. Not only that, but she loved his solo stuff, and she knew the SuperM.... supporters? (They didn't have a fandom name yet, surprisingly). A large portion of the SuperM supporters had originally begun listening because Taeyong was in the group. 

"Good point," Kai continued, "Our full-length albums generally average an hour, so even if we performed the old album too, we'd have extra time." 

"Can we do No Manners again?" Ten asked excitedly. 

"Oo, yes! I love that one!" Taemin grinned as well. 

"All of you, calm down." Se Min said. "Obviously you haven't heard what's been going on. We'll have to work out the details with Taeyong... later." 

"He's not coming to the meeting?" Lucas asked confused. 

"Actually," Se Min sighed. "He quit."


	23. Introductions

The room broke out into chaos. Aside from the CEO and his few planning associates, everyone was up and shouting at each other. Not even Mark was able to help calm everyone down, as he was yelling and objecting as well. 

"How could he do this?" 

"What did you say to him?"

"Is this because of Y/N?" 

"We can't perform without him?" 

"What about all of his lines?" 

"He doesn't know what he's talking about!"

"Make him come back under contract!' 

"Why wouldn't he come talk to us?"

"Could all of you sit down for a minute?" Se Min demanded. "We still have detail to work out with him. I will obviously do everything in my power to convince him to stay with the group. His contract does not terminate for another three years, but I have no ability to force him to sing or dance well. It's too much of a risk to demand he be active if he doesn't want to. Of course we have the ability to sue him. All of these are problems that do not involve you. I need everyone to let it go and get back to the problem at hand." 

"This is my fault." Y/N said under her breath. "I need to fix this." Standing up quickly, she said, "I need to be excused, my apologies sir." Before he could object, she bowed quickly, running out the door and down the hall. Frantically pulling out her phone, she texted Ten. 

Y/N: Can you send me Taeyong's address? 

Ten: Let me come with you

Y/N: No, this is my fault, I'll handle it

Y/N: Send it

Ten: Let me check his location first, he may not even be home

She waited for the address to come through, hands shaking as she ran down the front steps of the building. She had nowhere else to go until he sent her the location. The phone buzzed, and her eyes lit up, already preparing to put it into the GPS. It wasn't from Ten, though. 

Baekhyun: Remember how he feels, okay? You may only get one shot at this

She breathed in, chest tightening. He was right. She could not screw up this time, she had to stop being selfish and just suck it up. 

Ten: Alright, he's home. Here:

She copied and pasted the address into her GPS app, directions obscured by the new text that came through. 

Taemin: Do you need a ride? We can all come down if you want

She hadn't talked to Taemin since that morning. Reminding herself of what she'd just told herself to do, she mustered up the courage to respond properly. 

Y/N: No, I need to handle this. You and I need to talk later, though

Taemin: 10-4, good luck

She tore down the street to the building where he lived, not at all far from the company. Running up the stairs to his dorm number, she beat her hand on the door. Impatiently, she only waited a few seconds before doing it again. 

"Taeyong!" She heard some movement inside, but no answer. Grabbing the handle, she tried to just walk in, but it was locked. "Taeyong, open up!" She was still beating on the door, hoping that no other idols were in the adjacent rooms. 

"What part of get out don't you understand?" He called from inside. 

"I'm serious, open the door! We need to talk!" 

"No we don't, we said everything we had to." 

"How could you quit?" She demanded, kicking the door in anger. "You think you're sticking it to me? You think I'll learn my lesson if you hurt everyone? I'm sorry, Taeyong, I said I was sorry, I'm saying it again! You're not just hurting me, all your friends are out there having a freaking heart attack because you left them!" He said nothing as she continued hitting the door every few words. 

"I'll leave the company if you come back to the group, please," She begged. "SuperM isn't anything without you, you know that! That's why I don't understand how you could do this to us! To them!" 

"I don't want you to quit," he growled, "That's why I did it, it's better for everyone, they obviously don't need whatever I'm trying to add." 

"That is such bull, and you know it!" She yelled, still desperately trying to grip at the handle. "Who's going to help Lucas with his rap lines? You're just gonna leave that to Mark? And you know Taemin and Ten are too perfectionist to make up the cool choreography you do. And what's a SuperM concert without GTA? Without your music? It's not the same, so don't even flatter yourself by acting like you can do whatever you want!" He wasn't saying anything. 

"I'm sorry for not understanding what you were going through, and for yelling at you, and for treating you badly." 

"Fine." 

"No! It's not fine! Like you said, I was stupid, and I'm sorry! We can have some real fun finishing this album. We have a concert scheduled, everyone's excited!" 

"They're not gonna want me back after this." 

"They are. They do! They wanted to come over right now, I told them no-" 

"Why?" 

"Because," she sighed, "Because you deserved an apology from me, without feeling like they forced me to do this. So I'm sorry. For everything." There was a long pause as she waited for his response. She was no longer resorting to taking out her anger on the doorframe, but she was still stiff with anxiety. 

"I'm sorry too." He finally admitted, voice muffled by the surface between them. "For being... well, stupid." Laughing and wiping the tears from her face, she said, 

"Well, this is awkward. Not really sure how we work this out." 

"Yeah." 

"Maybe we just start over, yeah?"

"I mean, things are always simpler without Mark involved." Her eyes shut as she laughed, the last few remaining drops falling from her eyelashes as she heard the creak of the door open. When she looked again, he was standing in front of her, eyes red, but not nearly as wet as hers. She almost giggled at the sight, lifting her hands to try and clear her own face. Holding out a hand, she said, 

"Nice to meet you. My name is Y/N."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, so, that's the end.   
> I don't normally write fluffy stories, and I copy all of my works from where they're originally posted on Quotev. I don't always repost on here, so if you want to check out some of my other stuff, my handle is always @taffysamg. I'm in the middle of an EXO and a Stray Kids story over there if you're interested, and I already have a 127 and a WayV story reposted from there as well. Thank you for reading, and I'm always happy to hear your suggestions! Happy reading :)


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